Gérald Chanques: “Making sure everyone feels like a member of this historic university”
Following his recent appointment as Executive Vice President for Historical Heritage at the University of Montpellier, Gérald Chanques shares his vision of heritage. Balancing his official duties with his personal passions, he reaffirms his deep attachment to this university, which taught him both the joy and the responsibility of learning.
Name?
My name is Gérald Chanques.
Position?
I was recently elected vice president of the University of Montpellier, responsible for historical heritage. I am a physician, a graduate of this university, and a university professor and hospital practitioner in anesthesiology and critical care.
Responsibilities?
There are several construction projects underway at the same time in various locations across the University of Montpellier campus, including the Jardin des Plantes, the historic medical building, and so on. There are numerous construction sites at each of these locations. My main responsibility is to oversee them in coordination with all the central departments working on-site.
There is a second major undertaking, and it’s nothing but a pleasure. It involves bringing all the different components together. It’s about ensuring that everyone—every student at this university, as well as every BIATS staff member, every instructor, Professor —feels like a member of this historic university through its heritage.
Is this your first term atUM
No, this isn’t my first term. I’ve been serving on the Academic Council’s Committee on Education and University Life (CFVU) since 2018. I’ve also been elected to the Academic Council’s disciplinary sections. It’s very interesting because it allows me to get a feel for all the different parts of the university and the issues facing students, administrators, and faculty. So we have a very broad perspective on the university.
A place?
The place that made an impression on me? It was during my first year of medical school—well, right after I graduated from high school. A friend who was born and raised in Montpellier drove me to the School of Medicine to enroll. It was located on Rue de l’École de Médecine. We were at Place de la Canourgue; we walked down the street and found ourselves at the foot of the cathedral. And there he said to me, “That’s our school!” I still get a little emotional thinking about it—it was striking. You realize that there’s truly something happening here, something that has happened. And when you enroll, you understand that it continues. So that’s my favorite place.
No Future Without a Past?
There are universities that were founded very recently—very modern universities that are certainly worth considering. They don’t really have a past, so they have only the future ahead of them. And I think it’s interesting to have this type of university that’s deeply rooted in the21st century. But it’s particularly striking to go back to the roots. We’re fortunate in that regard in Montpellier. We’re fortunate to have a university that ranks among the four oldest universities in the modern sense of the term. These four universities are Oxford, Bologna, Paris, and Montpellier.
We have lived through this medieval renaissance, this renaissance, and the Age of Enlightenment. The spirit of the Enlightenment has endured beyond the revolution and throughout the21st century. It is so easy to appreciate this architectural and sculptural heritage—in the form of objects—that has been left to us by our ancestors. This heritage serves to explain that spirit. The spirit of the medical school, the spirit of the university, and ultimately the spirit that unites us all as academics. It is a fabulous opportunity that we must continue to nurture and build upon. And we will inevitably build upon it differently from newly established universities that lack a history.
Is there a historical figure fromUM reviving?
It’s probably Rabelais. Most medical residents, when they don the robe of Rabelais to defend their medical thesis at the end of their studies, don’t know exactly who he is. Yet Rabelais embodies not only medicine, but all the wisdom, knowledge, and philosophy developed in his work. It is a joy to study—and also a duty—to acquire sufficient knowledge in as broad a manner as possible, so that one may then be sufficiently educated to make decisions with complete freedom. And that is a magnificent message for the University.