Still, you can’t help but wonder: Did someone Googling “bikini airline,” as this donor’s Vietjet is popularly known, somehow miss the contribution of diary girls and mid-air burlesque to their fortune? “We don’t mind them associating the airline with the bikini image,” Thao said. “If it makes people happy, then we’re happy.” Assuming the college was also happy with the bikini money, did its investigations extend to human rights abuses in Vietnam, where Thao chairs a company described (by MP Julian Lewis) as “extremely close” to the government – and found this information compatible with the information of Linacre transforming into Thao College, the academic version of her personalized nameplate? If so, it’s wonderful news for anyone with an extra £155m who’s ever fancied being an Oxford college but concluded that some perceived connection to vile sexism, political repression or contributing to the climate emergency might make the investing in a peer Johnson simpler. Oxford colleges, as Linacre defensively points out, have been renamed from time to time – though not, perhaps, by philanthropists using demeaning images of young women to increase their profits. As shown by the sale of Linacre, it would be a shame if the recent disputes over people and objects with colonial associations were mistaken, by donors with enough money to appease cultural sacrifice, as an unwavering adherence to tradition. Oxford Chancellor Lord Patten, who recently condemned the removal of a royal portrait by some students as “offensive and horribly ignorant”, has yet to denounce, it seems, the mood of Renaissance scholar Thomas Linacre – a contemporary of the original Faust – whose breadth of learning the college is still advertised as its model. Oxford’s radical exercises in philanthropic acceptance must have given many people ideas for a reputation renewal The ambiguity did not go down well at Wigan, where Linacre was rector for four years from 1520. Nor does the disrespect for the Wigan man stop there. “The College will invite proposals from the Benefactor to develop a new crest and find suitable new College colors,” says the part of the Thao agreement called “Promoting the Gift.” It adds: “The Benefactor may use the name and emblem of the College for publicity purposes if agreed in advance.” So, while it’s too late for Hugh Hefner, there could hardly be a better time for, say, Hooters, which has met with some resistance in the UK, to consider a bid to rename, if not Balliol or Magdalen, certainly one from the younger ones. colleges within this increasingly broad-based university. Already Oxford’s radical exercises in philanthropic acceptance – whereby its centers of learning can be named after, say, a Trump-supporting private equity plutocrat or a chemical company known for its pollution – must have given many unloved ideas for a reputation. refresh. But as Linacre completes its reinvention as, essentially, Faust College, even more unlikely deals could never seem so possible. Assuming approval by a secret council led by Johnson loyalist Mark Spencer, Thao’s deal will soon entitle her to deeper involvement in college life: “The Benefactor may, subject to the approval of the College, suggests “Thao” or other relatives [sic] name for buildings, facilities, scholarships or bursaries funded directly by the Endowment or income derived from the Endowment.” In return, Vietjet’s parent company, Sovico, pledges to be net zero by 2050. The agreement notes: “Responsibility for the creation and implementation of the net zero plan remains solely with the Benefactor.” The involvement of Sovico, a company involved in the extraction of fossil fuels, was, next to the Vietjet bikinis and the liquidation of Linacre, the most significant objection after the deal was announced at Cop26 in the presence of Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. Linacre director Nick Leimu-Brown responded that the benign impact on Sovico’s strategy “will be substantially greater than any impact we can have through our own net zero progress”. They will be able to check this in 27 years. On the Vietnamese side, there was some surprise that Thao would rather be immortalized in one of the world’s richest universities than invest in her country. Nor is it clear why, since Thao studied and made her first fortune in the former USSR, she didn’t try to rename her alma mater, Moscow’s Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. After Cop26, Julian Lewis, chairman of the intelligence and security committee, repeatedly raised parliamentary questions about the propriety of the deal, given Vietnam’s abysmal human rights record, without receiving an adequate response. Is its promised wealth and new graduate center worth an eternity as Bikini Airlines College? In fairness to Linacre’s curation, the agreement was signed before the imprisonment in Vietnam of Nguy Thi Khanh, an internationally recognized environmental leader who would, in fact, be a great person for any climate-conscious organization fed up with the old his name. Three fellow athletes have also been jailed in an orchestrated harassment of activists whose goals Linacre apparently still shares. Nor, of course, could Linacre have predicted Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a crime that might have seemed incidental to the college’s current ambitions had it not been for Sovico’s “excellent relations” with the Vietnamese government that refrained from condemning it. invasive. Perhaps when Thao’s college representative chairs a new advisory board (“to report to the Benefactor on the impact of the Donation”), there will be an opportunity for Thao’s students to confirm that the Benefactor is taking a more principled view of them. Alternatively, there may still be time for Linacre to reconsider or reduce a deal that now stands out only because it’s so flat-out wrong. Is its promised wealth and new graduate center worth an eternity as Bikini Airlines College? Even Marlow’s Dr Faustus reconsidered – though, as many students of Linacre will appreciate, too late. Catherine Bennett is a columnist for the Observer Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, please email it to [email protected]
