As you know there are now two shortlisted candidates for Dean of NUS Law school. On one side we have Professor Michael Hor (who taught me Criminal Law in Year One) and on the other side we have Professor John Phillips from King’s College London. Personally I’m hoping for Professor Hor to succeed Dean Tan Cheng Han. I suppose I’m plumping for a know entity rather than an unknown outsider. That might make me close minded, but I feel a foreigner might have a hard time negotiating the Byzantine politics of the NUS system. Add the potentially highly politicised, but under-utilised role of the legal fraternity here (uniquely Singapore), and a foreign Dean might feel a little out of place for a couple of years. Valuable years that may cost NUS its high ground against its local competitor, SMU. Plus we’ve done just fine without a foreign Dean since 1968.
All the foreign Deans that we have had, outside of founding Dean Sheridan, stayed for about a year or 2 before leaving. It was not until Thio Su Mien (yes of recent AWARE fame), who took over in 1968, did we have a Dean who remained for a much longer time than 2 years.
Who knows? Maybe I am wrong to pick the familiar over the foreign, especially since I have not had an opportunity to meet Professor Phillips, other than a quick glance before he entered the room for his interview today. I am sure those on the search committee will carefully weigh all pros and cons, but I think I’ll bet on Professor Hor.
