Laura Spence affair

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The Laura Spence affair was a British political controversy in 2000, ignited after the failure of state school pupil Laura Spence to secure a place at the University of Oxford.

Background

Laura Spence was a pupil at

A-level grades in chemistry, biology, English, and geography.[1][2] Spence was interviewed by Magdalen College but she was not offered a place because – according to the college – other candidates, of whom there were twenty-two for five positions, had equally good qualifications and had performed better at interview. The reason given for Spence's rejection was, as one BBC report put it, that she "did not show potential".[3] The same report said that Spence was one of ten British students to be awarded a $65,000 scholarship by Harvard University, where she later on studied biochemistry.[3]

Political row

A political row broke out after

Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, said that Brown's remarks were "disappointing", and an unnamed Conservative spokesman reportedly told the BBC: "This is ignorant prejudice. Why doesn't Gordon Brown get on with delivering at least some of the things Labour were elected on, rather than telling universities which candidates they should pick for which courses, when he can't possibly know the full facts?"[5]

In the ensuing debate, those who disagreed with the Chancellor advanced a range of arguments: some believed there was no discrimination; some felt Brown did not have his facts straight and therefore should not have offered a public opinion; and some believed that Oxford was correct in not offering Laura Spence a place. When the issue was raised at an Oxford edition of the

postgraduate.)[7]

Spence herself did not get involved in the arguments, subsequently saying that she tried to ignore the row by focusing on revision and not watching television for a week.[8] In a House of Lords debate on higher education on 15 June 2000, Lord Jenkins of Hillhead, a Liberal Democratic peer and then Chancellor of Oxford University, criticised Brown for his comments on student admissions, saying that "nearly every fact he used was false", and that Brown's speech on Spence had been a "little Blitzkrieg in being an act of sudden unprovoked aggression", but "The target was singularly ill-chosen." Conservative peer Baroness Young stated that it was "an ultimate disgrace to use a young girl, a sixth former, in this way".[9]

After the row

The Laura Spence affair recurred in the headlines in the UK throughout the summer of 2000 (both before[10] and after Brown's speech) and is arguably one of the major events that pushed "widening participation" in higher education into the political spotlight in the United Kingdom. It also caused a party political row over a select committee report on higher education.[11]

Spence completed her studies at Harvard in 2004, and planned to return to the UK to pursue a medical career. She also encouraged more British students to study in the US, citing the "broader, more balanced curriculum" of a

liberal arts education and the availability of scholarships and need-based financial aid to assist with fees that may seem "astronomically prohibitive".[12] It was later reported that she was studying medicine at the University of Cambridge.[7]

In 2007 The Sunday Times revisited the affair, comprehensively reviewing the political statements at the time set against the facts of the case, and subsequent political and educational fall-out. It was highly critical of Gordon Brown's "spectacular own goal".[13]

On 25 October 2008, Spence graduated from Wolfson College, Cambridge, with a degree in medicine. Cambridge said she graduated from her medicine course with distinction.[14]

See also

References

  1. ^ The war of Laura's rejection, The Observer, 28 May 2000.
  2. ^ Laura's moment of truth, BBC News, 17 August 2000
  3. ^ a b c Oxford 'reject' wins Harvard scholarship, BBC News, 22 May 2000.
  4. ^ State school applicants to Oxford drop to 54pc[dead link], The Daily Telegraph, 28 October 2000.
  5. ^ Chancellor attacks Oxford admissions, BBC News, 26 May 2000.
  6. ^ Oxford In Question Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine, The Oxford Student, 26 October 2000.
  7. ^ a b She could get a place to study at Oxford or Cambridge. So why is Dominique off to Harvard instead?, The Independent, 11 September 2005.
  8. ^ Oxford was right, says Laura, BBC News, 17 July 2001.
  9. ^ Peers condemn Oxford attack, BBC News, 15 June 2000.
  10. ^ Oxford blues, The Guardian, 24 May 2000.
  11. ^ Row over university report, BBC News, 8 February 2001.
  12. ^ Laura Spence urges students to US, BBC News, 5 August 2004.
  13. ^ "University Challenge", Godfrey Smith, The Sunday Times (London), 15 July 2007
  14. ^ Lipsett, Anthea (27 October 2008). "Elitism row student gets Cambridge distinction". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
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