An Announcement from the Principal
9 October 2024
Dear Hertford Community,
There are two roles in which I never believed I would get the chance to serve. One is Hertford Principal, at the college that changed my life when I arrived here three decades ago this week.
The other is to lead the UN’s global humanitarian mission. On Monday, the UN Secretary General asked me to take that on. Millions are in dire need of protection and support, including in regions I know and love. I hope you’ll understand why I must go.
Governing Body will share more on the transition, beyond my departure in November. I am grateful for their support and understanding: our project is in the safest of hands. I had so much more to do, and will continue to do all I can to secure what we have for the long term. But this project is not about Principals, it is much bigger.
One of last year’s students got the highest mark in Oxford. She came to us as the first person from her family or school to study at university. She’s now on the frontline of the effort to take on the climate crisis. She told me last week: “Hertford is base camp”.
An international student from Syria has just finished her Masters. Worried she wouldn’t be able to join us, I went off script during the Hertford Festival and lamented we couldn’t fund her place. An alumna found me that night and fixed it. That student told me last week that Hertford was her sliding door moment.
Kenny Lewis was Hertford steward, centre forward and life force for decades. The last time I saw him was during an online Governing Body. He chanted through my window: ‘Hertford Till I Die’. I turned off my camera for a moment to join in. It was the greatest privilege of my Principalship to speak at his funeral. This is a project for life.
There is a student, born today, who will come to us in 2042. They will have had every reason not to make it. But, somehow, they will. And we will be ready for them. And they will change the world.
I will write separately in the coming weeks about the progress the team have made on the transformation of the estate, decarbonisation, fundraising, refugee scholarships and the removal of finance as a barrier to study here, ensuring we remain an access pioneer. I will also, inevitably, make a final ask of alumni.
Hertford doesn’t take itself too seriously, but we are serious about what we do. Extraordinary teaching and research: not just observing the world but changing it. A hub for ideas. A frontline for a better society. Most of all, a community.
I’ve been blessed to see Hertford from every angle: as a student, night porter, barman, JCR president, summer school guide, alumnus, honorary fellow, and now Principal.
So I can hold a mirror up and tell you how extraordinary you are.
My thanks to the staff, students, Fellows, tutors and alumni that make this community so special.
With best wishes,
Tom
Tom Fletcher CMG
Principal
Hertford College
Oxford University