Leading article: Oxford's future

The new proposals from Oxford's vice-chancellor, John Hood, for reform of the ancient university's governance are a smart compromise. Having an overarching council composed half of outsiders and half of university people, with Chris Patten having the casting vote as chairman for the next five years, should reassure the dons. The external representation is needed to meet the new charities law and to ensure accountability. It is unfortunate that the first set of proposals on governance were so unnecessarily tendentious. It has made Hood's job of reforming Oxford much more difficult on all fronts.