October 19, 2017
After being approached by a St. Andrews student, CANVAS founding member Srdja Popovic ran for the position of Rector at St. Andrews University – and won the election last week. Running against MSP and Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie, Popovic was able to secure double the student’s votes. The position of Rector, existing at Scotland’s oldest universities, is elected by the student body every three years to become President of the University Court, presiding over meetings taking essential decisions for the University.
In the new position of Rector at the prestigious university, Srdja Popovic “aims to empower students in St Andrews to mobilise themselves”, he told Rachel Miller from BBC News. The Serbian activist further stated that one of the goals should be to build a student movement as a platform for broader social change. Srdja Popovic already came closer to achieving this goal by helping 50 students active in the campaign to build their own ‘students for students’ movement. He also revealed to BBC that what ultimately convinced him to run for the position, was the discovery that one of the former Rectors was John Cleese who inspired him in his own creative protest through Monty Python’s absurd humor.
To read more about Srdja Popovic and his new position as the Rector of the University of St. Andrews, read this BBC article.
For those who speak Serbian, take a look at this N1 Info article.
Photo: N1 Info