Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Oxford professor of poetry Ruth Padel resigns
Press Association
guardian.co.uk, Monday 25 May 2009 18.26 BST

The first female Oxford Professor of Poetry resigned today following her involvement in an alleged smear campaign against a former rival.
Ruth Padel, (pic right from The Guardian), a great-great granddaughter of Charles Darwin, insisted she had "acted in good faith" and had done "nothing intentional" to lead her rival Derek Walcott to withdraw from the election.
Oxford University sources said a new election would now be held.

Padel, who was just over a week into her tenure, has consistently maintained that she played no part in the smear campaign, saying at the time that "neither [my campaign managers] nor I mentioned Walcott's harassment record and had nothing to do with any behind-doors operation", and claims "to revere his work".
"I had absolutely no wish to see him humiliated, and I'm very, very sorry he pulled out."
More details soon

1 comment:

David Howard said...

Apparently Ruth does not follow (as it were) her great-great-grandfather's theory of natural selection. Not since Dylan Thomas lived in the summerhouse at Holywell Ford, in the grounds of Magdalen College, has Oxford poetry been such a dangerous beast.