Chancellor Lambert honoured with a knighthood

The Chancellor of Warwick University, Richard Lambert, has been awarded a knighthood as part of the Queen’s New Year Honours.

Sir Richard, who became Chancellor in August 2008, is being granted the title for his position as the Chief Director at the Confederation of British Industry. The CBI aims to sustain conditions for British businesses to prosper and claims that it lobbies on national and international issues for the benefit of British industries.

Sir Richard was nominated for the award as a business figure alongside British Airways Chairman Richard Broughton and the Chairman of the energy provider Centrica, Roger Carr.

However, a student who spoke to the Boar said: “I don’t hold the CBI in very high regard, so if he’s getting it for that I’m not sure he deserves it. The CBI just looks after their own.”

On the other hand, a second-year Politics student, when asked if Sir Richard deserved his knighthood, said: “Yes, he occupied a very important position as director of the CBI.”

Sir Richard is due to step down early from this position after making a speech in which he argued against a “greed is good” culture and said that the CBI were in danger of becoming “alien” unless businesses cut excessive bonuses and profits that were contributing to the public’s distrust in the private business sector.

Sir Richard is the fifth Chancellor at the University and was appointed this role on a decision made by the University’s senate and council. In his role as Chancellor, Sir Richard confers degrees on behalf of the University and is in charge of promoting and fundraising alongside his formal and representational duties.

According to the University, a Chancellor acts as “the formal head of the University”. However, when questioned about his support for higher education fees (revealed in a CBI report co-written by Lambert in 2009) the Chancellor said that he was “not a representative” of Warwick but instead an “ambassador and advocate.”

As a result of his publicised views regarding tuition fees, students took part in protests against his comments in 2009 and created the Facebook group entitled ‘Warwick students embarrassed to have Richard Lambert as their Chancellor.’

Sir Richard said at the time that he was “concerned” about the reaction of students and that the CBI would not write about higher education fees again in the future.

The Queen’s New Year Honours are awarded for personal bravery, achievement or service in the United Kingdom such as work for charity, community work and service in the military. This year, the honours have been given to 998 individuals including costume and fashion designers, entertainers and producers.

For the first time since the expenses scandals, MPs have also received recognition as Conservative MP Peter Bottomley becomes a Knight and Anne Begg, the Labour MP for Aberdeen South, is made a Dame.

One student said of any negative reactions towards Sir Richard’s honours: “Some students just complain about anything.” Another commented: “So long as he wasn’t awarded for being Chancellor I’m sure he deserved it.”