(Image: Newsquest)
An Edinburgh MSP has joined the race to become the next rector of the University of St Andrews.
Q Manivannan, who received a PhD from the institution earlier this year, will be challenged by American actor Brian Baumgartner and AI tech boss Mark Brunner, as well as fellow alumni Dr Arthur Bernhoff, Dr Conor Philip and Edison Yau.
“I will contribute to the University of St Andrews’ efforts to uncover its potential as a university of solidarity, sanctuary, excellence, and innovation,” Manivannan, who uses they/them pronouns, said in their rectorial election statement.
“I have worked as an Assistant Warden at David Russell Apartments and Fife Park for a year, I have taught over 300 students and was awarded the Best Graduate Teaching Assistant Award through student nominations.”
The rector's role is to represent students on the university Court. (Image: University of St Andrews)
Manivannan, who is an Indian national, recently announced that their visa had been extended, allowing the MSP to live and work in the UK until 2029.
The rector chairs meetings of the university’s Court and champions student voices throughout their three-year term.
The role is unpaid, although travel expenses are covered.
Previous rectors include authors Rudyard Kipling and JM Barrie, industrialist Andrew Carnegie and philosopher John Stuart Mill.
“I have fought against Turnitin usage long before its most recent concerns – and will continue to,” Manivannan said.
“I have led efforts in solidarity with Palestine, against antisemitism, and against the mistreatment of the past rector Stella Maris.”
Ms Maris was dismissed from her role on the university’s governing body after describing Israel's actions in Gaza as "genocidal" in an email to students.
After being reinstated on appeal several months later, she was subsequently dismissed over another matter before being reinstated a second time.
Manivannan added: “It’s my honour to represent our student population, to sit with the feelings of belongingness that we all deserve to feel, and to coordinate with Scotland’s wider higher education and cultural sector to bring new modes of support for our wee bubble.”
“I know how bureaucracy and institutional red tapes can paralyse even the best institutions from achieving their full potential. Students deserve safe and affordable housing, they deserve more artistic spaces, and they deserve the opportunity to express their anger at the state of the world, without fear of risk of isolation.
“Our student and staff unions deserve support, and I am here to help.”
The election will take place online on Thursday October 15 and Friday October 16, with the victorious candidate to be announced following the vote.
Q Manivannan was elected to Holyrood in May. (Image: Duncan McGlynn)
Manivannan has faced criticism for comments they made on a podcast suggesting that rape was a “spectrum”.
“There definitely is a demonisation of rape, in the sense of it is a spectrum,” they said.
“As much as I don’t seek to lighten [rape], it is a spectrum: none of which is less or more worse, but it is a spectrum of things that constitute that one homogenised word: rape.”
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Manivannan, who is a survivor of sexual abuse, has claimed that the comments were “clearly misrepresented”.
“I recognise that the words in the clip shared, without the full context of the conversation, have caused considerable upset,” they added.
"For that I apologise. I will always stand with and for victims and survivors."
Monty Python actor John Cleese, himself rector between 1970 and 1973, said that the comments should disqualify Manivannan from the leadership role.
“As a former Rector of St Andrews University I respectfully urge its students not to support someone who tries to understate the appalling psychological effects of rape,” he wrote on X.
However, Manivannan appears confident in their chances of victory, given their name recognition and ties to the St Andrews community.
"I know what it’s like to be a student at St Andrews, I know what it’s like to be a support staff member here, and I worked as an Anti-Casualisation Officer with UCU St Andrews during my time there," they said.