[Thisis one thing the Brits don't need. If this is indeed serious, then the UK is doomed.]

By Tom Hundley Chicago Tribune

LONDON — The "good ole boy" from Arkansas is also an "old boy" from Oxford, which is one reason former President Clinton has been mentioned as an early front-runner for the job of chancellor at Britain's most famous university.

The largely ceremonial post became vacant during the weekend with the death of Roy Jenkins, 82, a towering figure in British politics who held the job for 16 years.

The Times of London newspaper yesterday called Clinton a "realistic prospect who would be a hot favorite among younger graduates and dons dazzled by his star appeal."

The idea seemed to catch Clinton's New York office by surprise. Tammy Sun, a spokeswoman, said the former president "is very busy with his foundation work, and this is not something that he is considering."

But if Clinton were interested, it could be a good fit. The former president is widely admired in Europe, and especially in Britain. Late last year, he was greeted like a rock star at the British Labor Party's annual convention in Blackpool and delivered a rousing speech that even upstaged his host, Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Clinton's credentials undoubtedly are enhanced by the two years he spent at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar in the late 1960s. During a recent visit to the university he said that his years there were the happiest of his life. His daughter, Chelsea, is studying there now.

In the past, the Oxford chancellorship has been a largely ceremonial plum for one of Britain's elder statesmen. Before Jenkins beat out former Prime Minister Edward Heath for the job in 1987, it was held by Harold Macmillan, another former prime minister.

-- Anonymous, January 08, 2003

Answers

But Britain's university system is in a prolonged financial crisis, and Clinton's relative youth and formidable skills as a fund-raiser could make him very attractive to the Oxford electors.

"I would love to see Bill Clinton nominated. It would be tremendously good fun and extremely useful if Oxford was going into the fund-raising business in a serious fashion," Alan Ryan, a professor at Oxford's New College, told The Times of London.

Others mentioned as possible candidates are Chris Patten, an Oxford graduate and presently the European Union's external-affairs commissioner, and Michael Heseltine, another Oxford graduate and a former deputy prime minister.

-- Anonymous, January 08, 2003