Reflections of an ‘Old CRYSJer’ – by Prof. Stuart C Billingham

When my wife and I first landed in York we started life in a house that had formerly been a corner shop in the Clifton area. In some respects, this was to be a precedent, for although I took up my post as the Head of School of Social Sciences, I was based neither at the Lord Mayor’s Walk campus of the College nor at its campus in Ripon. My office was on the relatively small (though picturesque) Heworth Croft Campus, which I shared with some staff from the School, some administrators, and a few students.

I walked each day from our house to my office but this quickly came to be quite a drag – especially if I had several files of paper and books, as I often did, to carry to-and-fro. Eventually, we decided to look for another place to live. Ironically, we settled on a house even further from the campus on Lord Mayor’s Walk and even Heworth Croft – in Pocklington. However, this location meant I could legitimately travel to the College by car and another development led to my office being relocated to Lord Mayor’s Walk.

We had not long been in Pocklington when I was called to the Principal’s Office to be confronted by not only her good self but also her Deputy.

The conversation was about the creation of a new academic School, comprising “my” School, plus that of Business & Management along with Counselling Studies and that of Modern Foreign Languages. The question centred on how I felt about being the Head of such “a beast”. To complicate matters, some of the staff in this new School were located at Ripon.

The proposal for a new School as well as my becoming its Head, came completely out of the blue. I decided I needed some time to consider the proposition – though I judged from the Deputy’s body language that I shouldn’t take too long coming to a conclusion.

I considered all the options and discussed it with my wife. It was a promotion – of sorts – but either way it was a much bigger job. Far more staff, a lot more students, modules and programmes; more external examiners; a move to an office literally overlooking Lord Mayor’s Walk – with a view of the city walls and The Minister – on the so-called Long Corridor, and a Personal Assistant.

The first task I had among very many was to conjure up a name for this conglomerate of diverse subjects. I decided to elicit the help of staff but in the end came to one myself. We were to be known as “MCC” or the School of Management, Community and Communication. It seemed to me to capture both the diversity of subject areas but also the underlying philosophies. I dreamt that it would be a unifying name – irrespective of the acronym’s link to the game of cricket.

And so it was.

My wife and I moved to a new home just off Bootham and though I walked to the office once more this was a much shorter walk than before.

And while all this was going on, the College ceased to be named Ripon and York St John and became, simply, York St John College…the prelude to becoming York St John University.

With thanks to Professor Stuart Billingham for sharing a look at life behind the office door during the final years of the College of Ripon and York St John.