Congrats, Sir Hilary
Published:Tuesday | November 3, 2020 | 12:05 AM
THE EDITOR, Madam:
At this year’s Long Service Awards event hosted by The University of the West Indies (UWI), 49 staff members were honoured for 15 years of service to the institution, 33 for 21 years, 27 for 30 years, and six for 40 years. I should have done so before, but COVID-19 intervened and distracted all of us. But I now use this medium to congratulate all awardees, especially those who gave 40 years of sterling, unbroken service to The UWI.
Among that group was the current vice chancellor of The UWI, Prof Sir Hilary Beckles – historian, author, scholar-activist, sportsman and administrator. He joined The UWI as a young man, before he had received his PhD from Hull University in the UK, but quickly become a qualified and key staff member of the Department of History, moving up the academic ladder to become a professor and, later on, an excellent administrator in the Office of Undergraduate Studies, then based at the Mona campus. Those of us who were graduate students and colleagues during his tenure at the Mona campus benefited tremendously from his scholarship, mentorship and collegiality, and his help to push us towards excellence in our chosen fields.
His leadership of the Cave Hill campus as principal, after holding other posts like head of the History Department there, was stellar. Cave Hill rewarded his services by the naming of the main administrative building as The Hilary McDonald Beckles Administrative Building. Many students, staff members and Caribbean people in general, especially from the grassroots, were delighted when he became vice chancellor of The UWI; and what a first term that has been. His administrative experience and concern for Caribbean people were put to the service of the entire university. He worked with his executive management team to expand the physical plant, so that now we have the Five Islands Campus in Antigua-Barbuda to add to the Open and three original campuses.
Under his watch and leadership, the world’s most reputable ranking agency, Times Higher Education, has ranked The UWI among the top 600 universities in the world for 2019 and 2020, and among the 40 best universities in Latin America and the Caribbean for 2018 and 2019. The UWI has been the only Caribbean-based university to make the prestigious lists.
He has been a thought leader and social justice advocate using the triple ‘A’ strategy of access, agility and alignment to ensure that The UWI’s strategic plan is aligned with the needs of the Caribbean. His commitment to ensure that The UWI fulfils its scholarly and social justice agenda, laid down from the inception in 1948, is evident; and reparation advocates around the globe have lauded him for his leadership of the struggle which has given hope to people of African descent that the travails of our ancestors will be compensated by those who caused such colonial deformities in our region.
Congratulations, Prof Beckles. Those of us who had humble beginnings but used education as our route out of poverty need someone like you to keep on pushing for poor people’s children to have access to higher education. May you spend many more years at The UWI, especially as, based on your scholar-activism, the former colonial powers will have to come back and participate in the development of the region. I am sure that all of the leaders of the region who placed you at the forefront of the reparation struggle will thank you when that happens.
VERENE A. SHEPHERD