Scottish social anthropologist who served as deputy chairman of the British Library and Principal of the University of St Andrew’s. He spent four years as Director of Public Affairs for the National Trust, before his appointment as Chief Executive and Deputy Chairman of the British Library from 1991 until 2000. During this period, the British Library made the delayed and over-budget move into its new building at St Pancras in London, after the original plans to demolish part of Bloomsbury were vetoed.
He was elected Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St Andrew’s in January 2001. During his first year, Lang was accused of sexual harassment by a member of the University’s administrative staff. Shortly before the start of the resulting employment tribunal, the university made an out-of-court settlement.
At an unrelated employment tribunal in 2004, Lang drew on his background in social anthropology to compare an academic department at St Andrews to the Ik tribe of Uganda, who, he said, were noted for their “dishonesty, lying and cheating”, a view of the Ik which has been repeatedly criticized.
Lang was accused of hypocrisy by the St Andrews student newspaper The Saint for promoting the University’s environmental policy by asking other members of the university not to use cars, while continuing to use his Jaguar to make the 1.1 mile journey to his office.
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