new york recePtion

Peggy Collins VSP, 1995

on the first Friday in April about 40 Mansfield alumni and fans of the College gathered at the Yale Club in New York City. Graduates and Junior Year Abroad students reconnected or exchanged stories for the first time over a glass of wine, accompanied by the buzz of BritishAmerican accents.

The Saybrook Room, with its dark wood panelling and 19th-century paintings, provided the setting for a talk by Joe Klein, political columnist for Time magazine and author of books including Primary Colors. Klein, who is set to spend Hilary term 2014 at Mansfield with his wife, provided a commentary on the state of US government. He also shared his passion for veterans’ stories from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The journalist’s insights sparked questions from alumni. They asked about the prospects of stricter gun laws passing in the US Congress and delved into his thoughts on public service by youth at a time of both great privilege and shaky economies in developed countries.

The banter was fortified when Baroness Helena Kennedy called on Shami Chakrabarti to share her impromptu thoughts. Chakrabarti, an Honorary Fellow of Mansfield and Director of the civil rights organisation, Liberty, was attending the event while on a visit to New York.

Themes of leadership and effective policy, which ran through the evening, gave poignancy to Baroness Kennedy’s update on efforts to create an Institute for Human Rights at the College. It is envisaged the Institute will provide a pathway for students wishing to pursue a career in upholding Human Rights around the world.

As the evening came to a close, talk was already focusing on future events – possibly starting with a visit to a baseball game at the Yankee Stadium. Few wanted to wait long before again experiencing the rejuvenating energy of a Mansfield reunion. Mansfield’s alumni are spread around the world, and we are keen to support alumni activities in any city where we are strongly represented. Over the past few years we have supported informal reunions in New York, Washington and Hong Kong, and we are hoping to arrange similar alumni-led reunions in the near future. If you would be interested in arranging something similar in your area, and would like to know how many Mansfield alumni are nearby, get in touch!

Rishi Dastidar (History, 1996) has been selected to be a part of ‘The Complete Works’, an Arts Councilfunded development programme for Black and Asian poets, of which Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy is the patron.

ALuMNI uPDATEs

Sir James Dingemans QC (Law, 1983), has been appointed to the High Court bench and has subsequently been conferred the rank of Knight Bachelor, as is customary for High Court judges. Sir James has also been appointed as the Rugby Football Union’s first Independent Head of Rugby Judiciary, a new post created to safeguard independence between the prosecutorial and judicial functions of discipline at the RFU. Toby Purser (History, 1989) has joined the list of Mansfield alumni with books to their name, as his historical fiction The Devil’s Inheritance was released in June 2013, followed by a second novel, The Zaharoff Conspiracy, a story of early 20th-century espionage, published in autumn 2013.