Update
Press release from Christ Church Appointment of first female Dean of Christ Church the Rev Canon Professor Sarah Foot
Press release from the Diocese of Oxford Appointment of first female Dean of Christ Church
Press release from the Prime Minister’s Office
Appointment of the Dean of Christ Church: 16 March 2023
The King has approved that The Reverend Canon Sarah Foot be appointed Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, from 1st July 2023.
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
Published 16 March 2023
The King has approved that The Reverend Canon Sarah Foot, Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History, University of Oxford, be appointed Dean of Christ Church, Oxford from 1st July 2023 in succession to the Very Reverend Martyn Percy.
Background
Canon Professor Foot has been the Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Oxford since 2007. She was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge (BA; MA; PhD), served as a Lay Canon at Christ Church from 2007-2017, and as a Residentiary Canon since her ordination in 2017.
Previously, Professor Foot was a Research Fellow then Fellow and Tutor at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge 1989-93, then successively Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, and Professor of Early Medieval History at the University of Sheffield 1993-2007, where she was Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Arts 2005-7.
She served as Chair of the Board of Faculty of Theology and Religion at Oxford University 2011-14. She writes on women in religion, medieval monasticism, and the early history of the Church in England, and is currently working on a study of the life and work of the Venerable Bede.
Perhaps ‘Acting’ or ‘Temporary’ Dean of Christ Church would be a more user-friendly description, although the appointment as Dean is substantive. This further information, courtesy of Law and Religion UK: An independent review of the governance of Christ Church, chaired by Dominic Grieve KC, is underway. Implementing subsequent changes to the governance and statutes of Christ Church will require the approval of the University, the Church of England, the Privy Council and Parliament. This is likely to be a lengthy process. Once it is complete Professor Foot intends to stand down to allow new leadership to take Christ Church forward… Read more »
Law and Religion UK is quoting from the press release on the Christ Church website.
It’s information which needed to be included here for proper understanding of the appointment. The point which Froghole makes below had equally occurred to me. As always, time will tell. New Statutes: possible separation of College and Cathedral? We can only wait and see.
One of the vilest, most depressing, and most Machiavellian pieces of news I have ever read on TA. To paraphrase Ann Widdecombe “There is something of the night about this.” They have missed something in the background about the part she allegedly played in the departure of the former Dean. Lord have mercy.
Her father was an operative in, and the leading historian of, SOE. Also part-edited the Gladstone Diaries before Colin Matthew (one TA regular was on the team of that massive enterprise).
The books on Anglo-Saxon monasticism and Athelstan (for the Yale series), are considerable, and enjoyable, accomplishments. Also a distinguished heir to Antonia Gransden as an historian of the community of Bury St Edmunds.
This announcement has perhaps not been entirely unexpected, but it would appear to pre-empt the publication of Mr Grieve’s report.
Is SOE Special Operations Executive?
It is indeed. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/feb/21/mrd-foot and https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/mrd-foot-historian-who-chronicled-the-work-of-the-soe-7469012.html. Also: https://www.routledge.com/SOE-in-France-An-Account-of-the-Work-of-the-British-Special-Operations/Foot/p/book/9780415408004 (part of the official history of WW2).
Yes, her father was M.R.D.Foot.
There is also a press release on the Christ Church website, which includes quotes from Sarah Foot and the Bishop of Oxford, Steven Croft: https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/news/house/appointment-first-female-dean-christ-church-rev-canon-professor-sarah-foot. Of particular interest is a reference to the Governance Review of Christ Church, currently being conducted by Dominic Grieve KC, saying that implementing subsequent changes to the governance and statutes of Christ Church will require the approval of the University, the Church of England, the Privy Council and Parliament and that “This is likely to be a lengthy process. Once it is complete Professor Foot intends to stand down to allow new leadership to take… Read more »
The ‘Notes for editors’ appended to the Diocese of Oxford press release (link above) has this about the likely length of the governance changes process, thus giving some idea of the length of Sarah Foot’s intended tenure in the post:
“The independent Governance Review of Christ Church is ongoing. Its purpose is to ensure that Christ Church’s statutes, by-laws and governance arrangements meet the needs of the institution. The full implementation of changes to the statutes is likely to take some years.”
I am slightly confused by this paragraph “An independent review of the governance of Christ Church, chaired by Dominic Grieve KC, is underway. Implementing subsequent changes to the governance and statutes of Christ Church will require the approval of the University, the Church of England, the Privy Council and Parliament. This is likely to be a lengthy process. Once it is complete Professor Foot intends to stand down to allow new leadership to take Christ Church forward under new statutes.” as i would have thought such a high profile case would speed things up so any dean appointed is a… Read more »
I find this appointment disappointing. I make no observation about Professor Foot personally, whom I don’t know, but surely this was a time in the history of the college when the promotion of any insider is a mistake? Wouldn’t someone completely independent be more likely to rebuild the reputation of the college with alumni, benefactors more widely, and third parties like the charity commission?
Yet again, the College seems to be dominant in people’s minds. As the Statutes are as yet unchanged, Professor Foot will be the Cathedral Dean and, one assumes, will take the style “The Very Reverend”.
So make her Interim Dean or some other short term appointment. Now it is really hard to remove her.. unless you have some trumped up charges around safeguarding…. oh i feel a sense of deja vu!
So a palace coup?? Surely not? Perish the thought!
But Kate is quite right.
In addition, the whole affair is even sadder if it detracts from the appointment of someone who under different circumstances would appear to be a strong female candidate.
As I say, I would have looked outside the college and not appointed her.
As I read the Statutes, I don’t see any provision for an Interim Dean – one of the enhancements I hope Grieve will suggest. I think the only way it can be achieved is as they have done with Prof Foot – secure an undertaking from the appointee that they will resign after a certain time or in certain circumstances. A competent lawyer could make it binding.
Dominic Grieve is specifically instructed to consider the Cathedrals Measure 2021 (currently Christ Church is excepted from its terms) which might, or might not, suggest that consideration could be given to separating the Cathedral and the College. The Diocese of Oxford made a statement (last year I think) proposing that the Bishop of Oxford should become the Ordinary and the Visitor of the Cathedral, effectively on the same footing as any other Diocesan in a C of E Cathedral. Currently the Ordinary is, in fact, the Dean and the Visitor is the Crown. Some of the suggestions being put forward… Read more »
The point made above is that this is in effect an interim appointment while the governance review takes shape and its resulting changes are made. I imagine an outsider would be difficult to recruit for an appointment that is short-term but without fixed timetable.
If they are contemplating splitting the role, recruiting a bishop on the basis that they would move into the role of ‘dean’ at the relevant time, leaving the college to recruit a ‘president’.
There’s no suggestion that a bishop should be Dean. The present Bishop of Oxford (I think understandably) would like to be on the same footing as all other C of E diocesans. This, however, requires concession by the Crown of its historic role as Visitor transferring to the Bishop. If, and it’s by no means certain to happen, there were separation, the role of the Dean would equally require to be re-defined in order to equate to all other C of E cathedral deans (their role is explicitly defined in the Cathedrals Measure 2021). Sarah Foot has indicated that she… Read more »
“There’s no suggestion that a bishop should be Dean”
I was thinking more that Rowan Williams became Master of Magdalene, Cambridge after he retired as Archbishop of Canterbury.. Bishop to Oxbridge head of house has been a well trodden path over the centuries.
I think in times past the reverse journey was somewhat more common — from Oxbridge head of house to a bishopric. Times have changed.
Indeed. It was exceptionally rare for someone to become a head of house having been a bishop, although some bishops were concurrently heads of house. Christ Church itself furnishes proof of this: with one 9 year gap, every dean – 6 of them – was also a bishop between 1713 and 1783, 5 of these being also bishops of the miserably endowed see of Bristol (an earlier dean, John Fell, was also bishop of Oxford, and his predecessor but one, the 3rd Lord Crew of Steane was, for a short while, concurrently rector of Lincoln College, which he endowed handsomely).… Read more »
The inability to marry same sex couples in chapel is a problem in many colleges which are promoting equality. If there is no resolution at a national level then I think you are right about other colleges following St Hilda’s. I wonder how the issue is playing out at Christ Church – it’s certainly an argument which could be marshalled against maintenance of the status quo.
Yes, and I think that this will be an issue that will come into sharper relief as time passes. St Hilda’s decided that their chapel would be a sort of neutral space, although they do have a chaplain (a well known former vicar of the University church). I think that account needs to be taken of the gradual and progressive demographic transformation that has occurred at the Universities in recent decades. A clear (indeed, overwhelming) majority of student bodies at most colleges will now be from non-Christian backgrounds, whilst at least between a third and half at many colleges will… Read more »
I think the challenges facing college chapels are difficult, but also complex. It is not just that many of the younger generation within the colleges have a non-religious or non-Christian background (and in this context “younger means under forty, including many tenured academics).
The Jesus College/Rustat dispute was between an old traditionalist way of being Christian, and a different, younger, but equally committed Christian tradition, and which included many from BAME backgrounds (including the Master herself).
None of those other Oxbridge houses is a cathedral as well as a college. None has a cathedral dean and chapter. The situation at Christ Church is unique.
Having re-read the public statements it’s clear from them that changes are definitely expected: the status quo will not continue. Accordingly it depends entirely on what form the changes will take before making any suggestion as to how the roles will be filled. Legislation will be necessary. We are warned that a period of years is likely to be involved.
Dominic Grieve KC’s report will be interesting, at least the public bits, but the publication of the Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 July 2022 the more so. 65 days to go!!
Readers may wonder why Professor Foot will not be taking up her appointment as Dean until July 2023. The reason is that under Canon C21 Deans must be in Holy Orders for at least 6 years before taking up their appointment. Prof Foot was ordained deacon on 1 July 2017, so the six years will not be up until July this year.
So does this make Professor Foot the least experienced Dean of ChCh in terms of years in Holy Orders? Six years from ordination to the best paid CofE job in the country is quite some achievement.
Only “least experienced” in terms of years in orders! Otherwise, she’s one of the most senior theology professors in these Isles (possibly the world). The widespread habit of disregarding any priest’s experience before/outside their ordination is harmful, not to mention tedious.
Was the vacancy advertised?
It probably didn’t need to be, as the Governing Body decided they could make an appointment from their own number. As long as all qualified Students had the opportunity to throw their hats into the ring. The reality is that Professor Foot (who was in effect Acting Dean already it seems) is to be formally appointed Dean, a Crown appointment. If she rather enjoys it and they like her, she will not be quasi-acting, and will continue in office sine die. If they don’t like her, well, they know what to do!!! Given that the Dean needs to be a… Read more »
It was not
There would have been no applicants, and no executive search firm would have accepted the mandate had they sought external advice.
I cannot help but think that being “under a cloud” is becoming a qualification for advancement within the Church of England.
It has been a qualification for advancement at least since Brandon Jackson was appointed Dean of Lincoln in 1989. Maybe it always has been?
What “cloud” is Professor Foot under?
Homeless Anglican provided the answer above. This case has a long way to run.
Prof Foot was a senior trustee of a charity which has been issued a Serious Warning by the Charity Commission, which has found “that the trustees failed to manage the charity’s resources responsibly” having “failed to act on its previous advice, given between 2019-2020, to continue to have ‘close oversight of costs'”. In December 2021, when Prof Foot was acting head of the trustee body, “the Commission asked the trustees to provide information about the costs of the actions connected to the former Dean and how these costs were being managed. The trustees were unable to provide the information in… Read more »
The two archbishops have accepted that the Dean’s complaint of institutional bullying across the CofE (including Cathedral and Diocese) is capable of belief and in need of independent investigation. That remains outstanding after it was withdrawn from the ISB which has publicly acknowledged that it is insufficiently distanced from those it is required to scrutinise. Foot was a key player in the project to remove the then Dean by hook or by crook: some trustees say they were not told how much Charity money was being wasted: Safeguarding was weaponised and CofE processes manipulated by the small committee of Governing… Read more »
Whatever Professor Foot may “intend” now could easily change in a few years.
In other governance-dustup situations, I’ve seen assertedly “temporary” or “interim” appointments become permanent. A few years in, and people start asking, “This interim is working out; do we really need to go through the trouble of conducting a search for someone else?”
At that point institutional inertia can set in. People are happy that the glass is half full, compared to how it seemed before.
Best to wait and see what happens: there are clear signs (spelled out for you in several of the comments above) that change is in the wind. New Statutes are mentioned and the statement put out by Christ Church itself says this: “Implementing subsequent changes to the governance and statutes of Christ Church will require the approval of the University, the Church of England, the Privy Council and Parliament. This is likely to be a lengthy process.” That last sentence clearly anticipates that changes will come. Additionally the Diocese of Oxford is a further stakeholder, and wants to ‘regularise’ the… Read more »
“Implementing subsequent changes to the governance and statutes of Christ Church will require the approval of the University, the Church of England, the Privy Council and Parliament. This is likely to be a lengthy process.” That last sentence clearly anticipates that changes will come.”
Hmm, I think it is in intended to read that way. However, it also provides handy cover if they happen to find themselves still in this position in 50 years time….!
That thought had occurred to me and, perhaps, on reflection, Jeremy may well have been thinking the same. Froghole, as ever, perceptively commented that the announcement of this appointment appeared “to pre-empt the publication of Mr Grieve’s report”. That, however, when it happens, ought to provide some clue as to what the future holds. The report was intended to be published this year.