Drooping spires; Oxford University.(Blues and red faces at Oxford)(Brief Article) From: The Economist (US) | Date: March 30, 2002 | COPYRIGHT 2002 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

Oxford University's place-selling scandal goes deeper than a couple of dodgy dons

THE Reverend John Platt, former chaplain of Pembroke College, Oxford, is an expert in ecclesiastical history. So he will know that one of the ways that the medieval clergy made itself unpopular was by selling passports to heaven to nervous sinners. Alas, that didn't stop him conspiring to conjure a place at the educational nirvana of Oxford, in return for a [pound]300,000 ($428,000) donatio...