From the Master

I’m gradually getting used to letters arriving more or less every day beginning, ‘Now that you have so much more time on your hands…’ and learning not to groan as I open them. Granted, being Master of Magdalene isn’t quite like the Old Job in terms of stress levels, global crises and bureaucratic forestry; but these letters do seem to embody the idea, still pretty popular, that nothing much really happens in universities, or that academic life is by definition leisurely. I had a fairly good idea before returning to Cambridge that ‘leisure’ wasn’t quite the word for what it feels like here: but I’d forgotten just how much has to be squeezed into eight-week packages, and how quick off the blocks you have to be to build relations and to move things on, when there’s always a good alternative candidate for what to do in the next half hour.

But the other thing I’d almost forgotten was the sheer warmth and vigour of life in college. A lot becomes possible simply because of this face-to-face continuity of conversation and exchange, and I’ve found myself actually being thankful for the crowded timetable of term. You can’t avoid getting to know people rapidly and absorbing without quite noticing it the details of how a college is run (colleagues will no doubt have their own views on how successful this absorption has been…). Now, when friends ask, ‘What exactly does a Master do?’ I can say with a good conscience, ‘A Master has to do what is needed to make a college work as a human group’ – which includes equally chairing meetings, pouring drinks, not rushing away if there’s a chance for a casual talk, with senior or junior members, and so on.

And in Magdalene, fleshing out this general principle really adds up to ‘Doing pretty much what Duncan and Lisa did’: I feel enormously privileged to inherit a model of what Heads of House should be doing that so obviously served the well-being and mutual confidence and affection of the members of the College. I’ve been struck again and again by how deeply and how widely my predecessor was appreciated, and hope I can manage even half of what he achieved in this respect.

It has been a joy to become part of the Magdalene family. It has brought new friendships and new opportunities, and I look forward to getting to know more of this family more fully in the years ahead. I’m profoundly grateful for the kindness of the welcome that has been given to me and my own family; and I hope that the College (and the Lodge in particular) will go on being places where welcome is assured. Jane and I intend to do all we can to make it so. R D W