THE youth said “Up! Up!” The more mature bade “Walk good”.

However the message was formed, the sentiment at the regional headquarters of the University of the West Indies Thursday evening — where members of the academic fraternity, the diplomatic corps, corporate Jamaica and others gathered to say farewell to Professor E Nigel Harris, outgoing Vice Chancellor of the university — embodied respect, admiration, gratitude.

Glowing tributes flowed – all commending Harris’ “humility”, “sensitivity”, “approachability”. Ronald Thwaites, Minister of Education referenced comments made of Moses “no more a humble man in Israel”, and credited Prof Harris with the development of “a very positive working relationship between the Government of Jamaica and the UWI”.

Professor Alvin Wint proclaimed him “a decent, decent man!”. Trade Union representatives Clayton McEwan, representing the Mona Administrative & Technical Staff Association and University & Allied Workers Union, and Anthony Perry of the West Indies Group of University Teachers, spoke of Professor Harris’ trustworthiness, honesty, and willingness to listen.

Prof Eudine Barrilteau, representing the UWI principals, hailed Harris’ ability to achieve unanimity, his patience and commitment to regionalism.

UWI public orator Michael Bucknor praised Prof Harris for his “Nobility and Evenhandedness and Humility” (a play on his initials ENH) and his lack of any “inappropriate sense of grandeur”.

Acknowledging the difficulties of administering the UWI with four campuses serving 18 countries, Chancellor of the UWI, Sir George Alleyne said Prof Harris “posed a lofty but realistic vision for the university – a vision which embraced the centrality of its role as the pivotal and premier West Indian tertiary academic institution serving the governments and people of the Caribbean and dedicated to the substance rather than the rhetoric of excellence”.

Incoming Vice Chancellor Sir Hilary Beckles noted that while Prof Harris’ tenure as Vice Chancellor 2004 – 2015 was a period of worldwide financial crisis which severely affected the fortunes of all UWI’s regional funding government, “he led the UWI during a period of robust growth and development, driven by the campuses’ determination to lessen their dependence on government financial resources”.

Under Professor Harris’ watch, Sir Hilary said, “the institution’s enrolment moved from approximately 29,000 to almost 50,000 students and the expansion and modernisation of all three residential campuses kept pace with the quality needs of a 21st century university.”