77
forget about the IAC, and that he would put an end to my precious astrophysics institute. I consider myself to be a peaceful and polite man, but the
Minister's blackmail made me lose my temper. Some democrat! After telling
him that I would follow the dictates of my conscience, I stormed out of his
office, slamming the door behind me. The University of La Laguna would
eventually become the first Spanish university to elect its chancellor democratically. I, of course, did not present my candidacy; nobody really believed,
until the call for candidates expired, that I had no wish to become Chancellor.
All this taught me that, in politics, the best way to practise deceit is to tell
the truth.
Optimists will say that there is no ill wind that does not bring some good.
My slamming of the door at the Ministry of Universities and Research caused
the doors of the Presidency of the Government to swing open to the IAC. But
that is another battle that I shall describe later.
Building from scratch the process of democratically electing the Chancellor
was a long and complicated business. We had opened the Pandora’s box of
democracy. All the University strata and newborn political parties put forward
proposals, some of them quite ludicrous. One of the biggest sticking points
was how to weight the votes of the teaching staff, students, and service personnel. Much dialogue and cooling of tempers were needed. One had to brook
insults, defamation, and even unrest. All were eager to practise democracy and
impose party policies. The walls would often be covered with satirical posters
showing the Acting Chancellor dismounting a donkey. But all the obstacles
were finally cleared and Professor Gumersindo Trujillo became the duly democratically elected Chancellor of the University of La Laguna in the first ever
election of a university chancellor in Spain.
It was a source of great satisfaction to me to see the Law of University
Reform of 1983 (which had provoked so much controversy and political
unrest in its passage through Parliament) sanction the democratic election of
chancellors in all Spanish universities in the same way that this had been
achieved at the University of La Laguna three years earlier.
9 The Reluctant Chancellor (1976–1980)
forget about the IAC, and that he would put an end to my precious astrophysics institute. I consider myself to be a peaceful and polite man, but the
Minister's blackmail made me lose my temper. Some democrat! After telling
him that I would follow the dictates of my conscience, I stormed out of his
office, slamming the door behind me. The University of La Laguna would
eventually become the first Spanish university to elect its chancellor democratically. I, of course, did not present my candidacy; nobody really believed,
until the call for candidates expired, that I had no wish to become Chancellor.
All this taught me that, in politics, the best way to practise deceit is to tell
the truth.
Optimists will say that there is no ill wind that does not bring some good.
My slamming of the door at the Ministry of Universities and Research caused
the doors of the Presidency of the Government to swing open to the IAC. But
that is another battle that I shall describe later.
Building from scratch the process of democratically electing the Chancellor
was a long and complicated business. We had opened the Pandora’s box of
democracy. All the University strata and newborn political parties put forward
proposals, some of them quite ludicrous. One of the biggest sticking points
was how to weight the votes of the teaching staff, students, and service personnel. Much dialogue and cooling of tempers were needed. One had to brook
insults, defamation, and even unrest. All were eager to practise democracy and
impose party policies. The walls would often be covered with satirical posters
showing the Acting Chancellor dismounting a donkey. But all the obstacles
were finally cleared and Professor Gumersindo Trujillo became the duly democratically elected Chancellor of the University of La Laguna in the first ever
election of a university chancellor in Spain.
It was a source of great satisfaction to me to see the Law of University
Reform of 1983 (which had provoked so much controversy and political
unrest in its passage through Parliament) sanction the democratic election of
chancellors in all Spanish universities in the same way that this had been
achieved at the University of La Laguna three years earlier.
9 The Reluctant Chancellor (1976–1980)