The Laura Spence Affair was a British political controversy in 2000, ignited after the failure of high-flying state school pupil Laura Spence to secure a place at the University of Oxford.

Background

Laura Spence was a pupil at Monkseaton Community High School, a state school in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside. In 1999, she applied for a place to read medicine at Magdalen College, Oxford. (There were one hundred students in her school year, but she was the only one to apply for a university place at 'Oxbridge'.) Spence had taken ten GCSEs, obtaining the top A* grade in each, and had been predicted (and later achieved) top A-level grades in Chemistry, Biology, English and Geography. Spence was interviewed by Magdalen College. However, despite her apparently-perfect qualifications, she was not offered a place because - according to the college - other candidates (of whom there were 22 for 5 positions) had equally good qualifications and had performed better at interview. Nevertheless there were allegations that Magdalen College had discriminated against her because of her state-school background and/or because she came from a 'working-class' region. The reason given for Spence's rejection was, as one media report put it, that she 'did not show potential'.It was subsequently reported in the British media that Spence was one of ten British students to have "won" a £65,000 scholarship by Harvard University in the United States, where she intended to study biochemistry.

Political row

The apparent rejection of a well-qualified state-school pupil led to suspicions that Spence's exclusion was on the basis of social class and regional prejudice rather than pure academic suitability. A political row broke out after Labour MP and then Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown (who later became Prime Minister) commented on the decision at a Trades Union Congress reception. Brown accused Oxford of elitism, saying that Spence's rejection was an 'absolute scandal' and that he believed she had been discriminated against by 'an old establishment interview system'. Spence's headteacher, Dr Paul Kelley, also said he believed Oxford was 'missing out' and that he thought that Spence had been rejected because of her being from the north east of England. The University of Oxford robustly refuted all allegations of discrimination. Attention was drawn to the fact thatMagdalen College had offered only five places to study medicine but had received twenty-two applicants, and that Oxford received a similar number of applications from state schools and private schools in the north east of England, and accepted a similar proportion from each. The admissions tutor at Magdalen, Andrew Hobson, also denied the claims, pointing out that he was from Newcastle. Dr Colin Lucas, vice-chancellor of Oxford, said that Brown's remarks were "disappointing", and an unnamed Conservative spokesman reportedly told the BBC: "This is ignorant prejudice. Why doesn't Gordon Brown get on with delivering at least some of the things Labour were elected on, rather than telling universities which candidates they should pick for which courses, when he can't possibly know the full facts."

In the ensuing debate, those who disagreed with the Chancellor advanced a range of arguments: some believed there was no discrimination; some felt Brown did not have his facts straight and therefore should not have offered a public opinion; and some believed that Oxford was correct in not offering Laura Spence a place. When the issue was raised at an Oxford edition of the BBC's political discussion show Question Time in October 2000, Professor Robert Winston said that Spence did not deserve a place, because "you have to be committed to the course, and Laura Spence clearly wasn't committed because she didn't even end up studying medicine." (Spence was later reported as having gone on to study Medicine at Cambridge as a postgraduate).)

Spence herself did not get involved in the arguments, subsequently saying that she tried to ignore the row by focussing on revision and not watching television for a week. In a House of Lords debate on Higher Education on the 15 June 2000, Lord Jenkins of Hillhead, a Liberal Democrat peer and then Chancellor of Oxford University, criticised Brown for his comments on student admissions, saying that "nearly every fact he used was false", and that Brown's speech on Spence had been a "little Blitzkrieg in being an act of sudden unprovoked aggression", but "The target was singularly ill-chosen." Conservative peer Baroness Young stated that it was "an ultimate disgrace to use a young girl, a sixth former, in this way".

It also became apparent that the nature of the scholarship offered to Spence by Harvard University had been exaggerated, and was based purely on financial need rather than particular academic merit beyond that required to win a place..

After the row

The Laura Spence Affair recurred in the headlines in the UK throughout the summer of 2000 (both before and after Brown's speech), and is arguably one of the major events that pushed 'widening participation' in Higher Education into the political spotlight in the United Kingdom. It also caused a party political row over a select committee report on higher education.

In 2001, Laura Spence made public her opinion that Oxford had been right to reject her admission on the basis of her interview, saying that she had been "a bit upset when I came out of the interview because I knew I hadn't done as well as I thought I could have", and that she was not "a perfect example of what Gordon Brown was trying to point out because I don't feel that being from the North or a comprehensive mattered in my case".

Oxford University consistently denied any elitism or malpractice in its admissions system.

Spence completed her studies at Harvard in 2004, and planned to return to the UK to pursue a medical career. She also encouraged more British students to study in the US, citing the "broader, more balanced curriculum" of a liberal arts education and the availability of scholarships and need-based-financial aid to assist with fees that may seem "astronomically prohibitive". It was later reported that she was studying medicine at the University of Cambridge.

On Saturday 25 October 2008, Spence graduated from Wolfson College, Cambridge with a degree in Medicine. Cambridge said she graduated from her medicine course with distinction.

See also

• 2003 University of Bristol admissions row
• Oxbridge reject

References

1. The war of Laura's rejection, The Observer, 28 May 2000.
2. Laura's moment of truth, BBC News, 17 August 2000
3. Oxford 'reject' wins Harvard scholarship, BBC News, 22 May 2000.
4. State school applicants to Oxford drop to 54pc, The Daily Telegraph, 28 October 2000.
5. Chancellor attacks Oxford admissions, BBC News, 26 May 2000.
6. Oxford In Question, The Oxford Student, 26 October 2000.
7. She could get a place to study at Oxford or Cambridge. So why is Dominique off to Harvard instead?, The Independent, 11 September 2005.
8. Oxford was right, says Laura, BBC News, 17 July 2001.
9. Peers condemn Oxford attack, BBC News, 15 June 2000.
10. Harvard admissions office FAQ: financial aid
11. Oxford blues, The Guardian, May 24 2000.
12. Row over university report, BBC News, 8 February 2001.
13. Laura Spence urges students to US, BBC News, 5 August 2004.
14. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1080686/Former-comprehensive-girl-centre-Oxford-elitism-row-graduates-Cambridge.html