Volume 32, Number 5 · March 28, 1985
Oxford and Mrs. Thatcher
By H.L.A. Hart
On January 29 Oxford's Sheldonian Theatre, one of the university's most splendid buildings, was the scene of a doubly unprecedented event. More than a thousand dons assembled there, completely filling its floor space and elegant galleries, to vote on a proposal to confer upon the prime minister, Mrs. Margaret Thatcher, the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law. After a two-hour debate the dons voted by passing through exit doors marked 'Yes' and 'No,' and the proposal was defeated by 738 to 319 votes. This was unprecedented because since 1946 every previous Oxfordeducated prime minister had received the honorary degree thus denied to Mrs. Thatcher, and never in living memory had any meeting of the body that denied it to her been attended by any number of dons even remotely approaching the number who voted on this occasion. Unprecedented too was the outburst of indignant anger, denunciation, and vitriolic comment with which this event was greeted in the columns of the London Times, the Daily Telegraph, and other, less prestigious, journals committed to the support of Mrs. Thatcher's government.
Feature, 2925 words
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