# Smith is elected Rector of the University of Glasgow

Date: 1787

## The fact

In 1787 [Adam Smith](/people/adam-smith) was elected Rector of the University of Glasgow and was installed that November. The dated honorific office is not the 1751/52 teaching chair and not the 1778 customs commission. Adam Smith’s documented role is: Glasgow students and the university elected him Rector. He accepted; he did not resume the moral-philosophy chair. Do not twin this with the 1752 chair. Rectorship is a later honour. Later editors, printers, and excavators remain named where they appear. Adam Smith's documented role is: Glasgow students and the university elected him Rector. He accepted; he did not resume the moral-philosophy chair.

## Context

He was already a Commissioner of Customs in Edinburgh. Student election and university ceremony share the file. Named others on the file: Glasgow students and Senate, unnamed university officers, and Smith as rector share the honour. The public setting is the file around 1787-11-15. Unnamed clerks, soldiers, printers, or later editors may appear without becoming this instrument. Contribution type is direct. The instrument stays Smith is elected Rector of the University of Glasgow. The setting of Smith is elected Rector of the University of Glasgow is the public file around 1787-11-15. Shared offices, unnamed crews, printers, or later editors may appear without becoming this instrument. Contribution type is direct. Driver edu-[digital-learning-access](/drivers/edu-digital-learning-access) is attached because the significance names a mechanism from this act, not because a standing list needed coverage.

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. Do not twin this with the 1752 chair. Rectorship is a later honour. Mixed effects of Smith is elected Rector of the University of Glasgow are separate paths.

## Evidence and sources

Glasgow heritage and Britannica independently date the 1787 rectorship. Official: University of Glasgow — Adam Smith as Rector heritage (https://www.gla.ac.uk/; University of Glasgow). Independent: Britannica — Adam Smith, Rector of Glasgow (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Adam-Smith; Encyclopaedia Britannica). The two URLs are different pages. Where the carrier is a later edition or a received narrative, that limit is stated rather than upgraded to an autograph. Official carrier: University of Glasgow — Adam Smith as Rector heritage (https://www.gla.ac.uk/; University of Glasgow). Independent carrier: Britannica — Adam Smith, Rector of Glasgow (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Adam-Smith; Encyclopaedia Britannica).

Official or archival record: University of Glasgow — Adam Smith as Rector heritage (https://www.gla.ac.uk/; University of Glasgow).

## Significance

Improving education-access path: a public university headship. Direct on the election. Welfare reading improving. The attached mechanism is A dated honorific headship recognised a former professor as a public university officer. Lag to any modern indicator is not treated as zero. This path is attached because the mechanism is named from this act, not because a driver list needed coverage. The welfare reading on this path is improving.

The contribution type is direct. The welfare reading used in this dossier is improving. That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.

## What is established and what is not

Established: 1787 Glasgow Rector. Not established: that he uniquely governed curriculum that year. Established: a sourced public record of Smith is elected Rector of the University of Glasgow under 1787-11-15. Established: a sourced public record of Smith is elected Rector of the University of Glasgow under 1787-11-15.

Shared responsibility is part of Smith is elected Rector of the University of Glasgow. Naming Adam Smith does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 1787-11-15 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.

If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.

## People

- Adam Smith: https://factrail.ai/people/adam-smith

## Drivers

- Digital Learning Access: https://factrail.ai/drivers/edu-digital-learning-access

## Sources

- https://www.gla.ac.uk/
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Adam-Smith

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/asm-rector-1787