Merton Men Meet In N.Z.

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31109, 12 July 1966, Page 20

Merton Men Meet In N.Z.

Mr B. G. C. Levens, senior fellow and dean of Merton College, Oxford, enjoys the fellowship of “Merton men"— he has been there a long time —and in this he has not been lonely on a visit to New Zealand. Arriving to spend a term as visiting fellow in classics at Auckland University at the invitation of the Vice-Chancel-lor (Mr K. J. Maidment). a former pupil and junior fellow, he found that Professor S. Musgrove, also a Merton man, was now deputy-vice-chahcellor. In Christchurch he found that Professor N. C. Phillips had become Vice-Chancellor and that Professor J. C. Garrett was head of the big English department. Both are Merton men. “Merton’s very strong ties with New Zealand go back many years,” said Mr Levens. "Kenneth Sisam came from the Bay of Plenty and was a Rhodes scholar before the First World War. He became secretary of the Clarendon Press at the same time that he was building a fine reputation as a scholar in early English. He is now an honorary fellow of Merton, but has retired to the Scilly islands. “I think Sisam founded the New Zealand dynasty which flourished in the thirties," said Mr Levens. "Others included John Mulgan, whose son Richard is now with us, and J. A. W. Bennett, who has succeeded C. S. Lewis as professor at Cambridge.” Mr Levens said there was much at Oxford that had not changed—and much that would change. “The recent Franks report from an internal commission will shake things up quite a bit,” he said. “The problem is to live up to our traditions and still keep up with the times.”

Mr Levens said he thought the most significant development would be the strengthening of post-graduate schools. Many people had the impression that this was a substantial part of Oxford work. In fact only one in five took postgraduate studies. The Franks report proposed one in three. Preservation of the collegiate system was still vital, said Mr Levens. Three new postgraduate colleges had been built recently. It w r ould be better if undergraduates and graduates were mixed. “This is good for undergraduates because they associate with those further on.” said Mr Levens. “It is good for graduates because they keep touch with young ideas. It is good for teachers because it bridges the gap between i what they teach and what they work on in personal research.” This inter-play was essential to true collegiate life. Separated into faculty colleges—“scientists with scientists, arts with arts”—would be "quite dangerous.” In such a situation university people simply lost the ability to communicate outside their own field, said Mr Levens.