Election of Gordon Brown as Rector, 1972

In 1973, Gordon Brown, postgraduate student and future Prime Minister, was elected Rector of Edinburgh University.

The late 1960s and early 1970s were a period of intense student militancy at Edinburgh University, centring on two causes: the call for greater student participation in university governance and the demand that the university cut all financial ties with the Apartheid regime of South Africa. These issues first came to dominate university life during the Rectorship of Kenneth Allsop (1920-1973) who was supportive of student aspirations. Edinburgh students demonstrated against the touring South African rugby team at Murrayfield Stadium in 1970 and demanded that the University cease investing in companies that did business in South Africa.