Wednesday 18 March saw the admission of the new Proctorial/assessorial team for 2020-21. Prof. Sophie Marnette (French - Balliol) demitted as Junior Proctor and Dr Helen Swift (French - St Hilda’s) was admitted as Assessor. The ceremony took place in a reduced committee, without processions and celebratory lunches, due to the current pandemic crisis but the orations of the outgoing Proctors and Assessors will be published in the University Gazette.
Professor Martin Maiden, Professor William Whyte and Professor Sophie Marnette. Professor Helen Swift. Credit: Claire Harvey
The University has two Proctors and an Assessor, who are elected annually by the colleges in turn – a system that means that a college elects a Proctor only about every 12 years. The Proctors and Assessor are senior officers of the university who ‘oversee student matters and ensure that the University’s statutes and policies are followed, with particular interest in examinations, conduct and welfare, and other aspects of the student experience.’ The Senior Proctor has special responsibilities in research degrees and the Junior Proctor for taught degrees (the titles Senior and Junior reflecting which one was first admitted to the Oxford MA); the Assessor is typically involved with student health and welfare matters. We wish Helen the best of luck as incoming Assessor, especially in what will be an unprecedented new chapter of our University’s history.