FROM THE MASTER

This has been an extraordinary year, both for the College – and, frankly, for me. I suspect that whatever the contents of the job description and recruitment process neither could have prepared me for the rollercoaster of COVID crisis management and planning for the new normal – which of course keeps changing. I was fortunate to have the Michaelmas term 2019 and early part of 2020 to get a real feel of the College, gain a greater understanding of Cambridge, spend time with students, chat with staff, enjoy some music inside and beyond the Chapel, chair College meetings in person, attend excellent Fellows’ and graduate students’ talks, meet alumni – and so much more.

I was very grateful for my warm welcome, tolerance of my lack of detailed knowledge of all things collegiate Cambridge and openness to my way of approaching the role. In the months of ‘courtship’ and the months preceding my admission I experienced the friendliness of Fitzwilliam. Indeed, for me the consistency of that message across the community was a big attraction, together with the obvious commitment and belief in widening access to an ever-broader group of bright students.

Faced with COVID, the College has shown resilience and compassion. As a community and as a Fellowship we have had to take fast decisions, govern via Zoom, communicate quickly, be flexible and regularly change our previous positions on a range of issues as advice and regulations have changed. We have had to call extraordinary meetings of College committees, especially of the College Committee, hold short and focussed daily BCP Gold Team calls and activate a cross-College working group to handle COVID planning over the Long Vacation. The Bursar, Senior Tutor and myself have been involved in weekly - sometimes daily - fora across the colleges and University, and the Admissions Tutors and Domestic Bursar have been similarly engaged. Our staff, academic and non-academic, worked tirelessly to keep things running and then they planned – extensively – for Michaelmas term 2020. Our students have shown 5

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remarkable stoicism whether in College or back home, supported by their Tutors, DoSs, supervisors and others. The JCR and MCR were imaginative in running events here and online even under restrictive rules and were very constructive team players in discussing measures for Michaelmas 2020.

I think it is fair to say that Michaelmas 2020 was a good term; we kept the Fitz spirit alive and kicking. In spite of the restrictions we worked hard to deliver a good collegiate experience. On a personal basis I have been fortunate to be working with such good colleagues. It is invidious to single out names, but I would like to express my thanks. Andrew Powell was an excellent Bursar and I am delighted that we were able to recruit such a talented replacement in Rod Cantrill; Paul Chirico is a dedicated Senior Tutor whose integrity shines through to students and colleagues alike. The College has been fortunate to benefit from the commitment of our Graduate Tutor, Admissions tutors, President, Development Director, and the Domestic Bursar and his team.

The Fellowship has continued to be involved, and lively. Our committees for the most part function well with good support, but our governance is, of course, dependent on the involvement of often very busy people. The use of Zoom has increased participation but we have, of course, greatly missed the experience of being together physically. As always there was change, good colleagues left through retirement or moves to new jobs elsewhere, but we were joined by excellent new Fellows who, I believe, have been attracted to Fitzwilliam by our culture.

It is important to me, as Master, that I represent Fitz and our values beyond the College site. As a result of my interest in access to higher education, I have served as the Head of House on the Foundation Year programme board, and on the Advisory Group on Access and Participation (AGAP). I have been intensively involved in the student asymptomatic COVID testing programme as the Head of House on that group and I have also been involved in a number of other University events and bodies. I joined the Prince’s Teaching Institute as a trustee with a Cambridge link.

Actions and decisions are powerful symbols of the fundamental values of an organisation. In that vein, this year, I would highlight variously our united approach to Cambridge students being “sent” home – i.e. our belief that this should happen where home was the best solution but we should warmly support those who could not leave College; our decision to pay Furlough at 100%; our COVID community statement (rather than, for example, a signed code of conduct for students); our determination to uphold free speech but abhor racism; our determination to admit as many capable students from less advantaged backgrounds as possible in the marking debacle in summer 2020; our delivery of free meals from our kitchen during school holidays to Cambridge Sustainable Foods, a local charity providing meals during the school holidays. There are, of course, other examples.

This is not in any way to be complacent: there are very tough challenges ahead but I hope also significant opportunities if we move forward as a College. Financially, things will be very difficult, and inevitably this will mean hard, and

quite possibly unpalatable decisions in the months ahead. It is clear that there will be no quick recovery from the impact of this epidemic. We will also need to engage our supporters – alumni and beyond – to reduce the financial impact of the current crisis, and to look with ambition and creativity to the years ahead.

We will all need to share the vision for the future. Never has it been more important to reflect on our values, and to ask ourselves how we are advancing in our mission as a College. I think that it is precisely at the moment when we are most challenged by circumstances that we should draw confidence from our direction of travel.

The public exams fiasco last summer, and our positive response to admit those who we believed would flourish here, on the basis of assessments and interviews, meant that in 2020 Fitz admitted its most socially diverse cohort in recent memory. It is good to see that some other colleges have equally strong statistics. But the welcome progress of others should also serve as a challenge to us. Widening participation is core to Fitzwilliam’s mission but we will need to, and should want to, widen and deepen this work. I hope that this will include looking at preparation for studying here, support to current students and preparation for life post university. The effect of COVID has served to highlight and unfortunately increase the gap between disadvantaged and other young people.

No college can operate in isolation, and the current situation has only emphasised the importance of collaboration and debate across collegiate Cambridge and between colleges and the wider university. It should be obvious, but is not always thought by all, that the interests of collegiate Cambridge are dependent on the strength of the University. The global race for talent and research funding is intensifying and will be negatively affected by Brexit. The international league tables emphasised that UK universities are in danger of falling behind, even before the deterioration of the economy was factored in. In the UK Higher Education is under greater scrutiny than ever before.

Cambridge is not immune to this, and nor is Fitz.

The present moment, with all its challenges and opportunities, must be reflected in our planning. In 2018, when we last developed our Strategic Plan, the world felt very different. Rather than simply revise the current Rolling Plan, it feels timely to redefine our mission, to be confident about our identity as a College and to develop clear priorities for the years ahead and to develop a fundraising campaign to support them. This work needs to, and will, involve the whole breadth of our community.

As I write this in January 2021, we have just entered a new lockdown. We will face this difficult term with resilience and determination – but look forward more than ever to being able to rejuvenate College life in person. 7