Edward Snowden elected as rector of Glasgow University

[scooterscot]

Rock on

He'll be given an asylum once independent and a life time supply of deep fried food products.

BBC News - Edward Snowden elected as rector of Glasgow University

Edward Snowden elected as rector of Glasgow University

18 February 2014 Last updated at 17:09 GMT
An image grab taken from a video released by Wikileaks on 12 October 2013 shows US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden speaking during a dinner with US ex-intelligence workers and activists in Moscow on 9 October 2013Edward Snowden now lives in Russia after fleeing the United States
Intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden has been elected to the post of student rector at Glasgow University.

The former US National Security Agency contractor fled from his homeland last May after revealing extensive details of internet and phone surveillance.

He is currently staying in Russia where he has temporary asylum.

The rector is the students' elected representative. Mr Snowden succeeds the Liberal Democrat's former leader Charles Kennedy.

Mr Snowden beat three other candidates to the post - cyclist Graeme Obree, author Alan Bissett and Scottish Episcopal clergyman Kelvin Holdsworth.

Previous rectors at the university include Winnie Mandela and Mordechai Vanunu.

Among the post-holder's key duties are to attend the university court, which administers resources, work with the students' representative council, and to bring student concerns to the attention of university management.

Each rector serves a three-year term.

[AtW]

He'll just need to apply for a work permit in UK Embassy in Moscow...

[expat]

I'm proud of my old university today. When I was there we elected Jimmy Reid rector, and he gave us an address that I have never forgotten, and that I think matches Edward Snowden's actions:

Reject the insidious pressures in society that would blunt your critical faculties to all that is happening around you, that would caution silence in the face of injustice lest you jeopardise your chances of promotion and self-advancement. This is how it starts, and before you know where you are, you’re a fully paid-up member of the rat-pack. The price is too high. It entails the loss of your dignity and human spirit. Or as Christ put it, “What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul?”

[scooterscot]

I'm proud of my old university today. When I was there we elected Jimmy Reid rector, and he gave us an address that I have never forgotten, and that I think matches Edward Snowden's actions:

"you’re a fully paid-up member of the rat-pack"

Indeed. It reminds me of the Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, he said:

“Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money.
Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present;
the result being that he does not live in the present or the future;
he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

So office people, keep working away saving up for than pension before hearing the words on your 60th 'mind that bus! What bus! Splat'

Don't recall who our rector at Strathclyde was...