Edward Snowden, bane of the intelligence community and Vladimir Putin’s house guest, has been elected as as the student rector for Glasgow University in the United Kingdom.
The former Booze Allen contractor, who almost single handedly exposed the National Security Agency’s deepest and darkest secrets and has since been on the run since he fled the United States, was elected by the students at Glasgow University. In winning he beat out three other candidates: author Alan Bissett, cyclist Graeme Obree, and Scottish Episcopal clergyman Kelvin Holdsworth.
Previous rectors have included Winnie Mandela – estranged wife of the late South African President Nelson Mandela — and Mordechai Vanunu, who was the nuclear technician and whistleblower who exposed details about Israel’s nuclear program in 1986. Snowden will replace Charles Kennedy, former leader of the British Liberal Democrats, who resigned his party’s leadership in 2006 after admitting to a drinking problem.
In his new role as rector, Snowden will be asked to “attend the university court, which administers resources, work with the students’ representative council, and to bring student concerns to the attention of university management.”
How he will fulfill these roles is, at present, unclear. Ever since he fled the the U.S., Snowden has been persona non grata across most of the globe. After first stopping in Hong Kong, Snowden eventually managed to secure temporary asylum in Russia with the help of notorious Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, and has essentially been trapped there ever since.
The Daily Caller has reached out to Glasgow University about how Snowden will act as rector if he is unable to attend the campus.
