particular helped him win support amongst Edinburgh's student community. Campaigning work Ballard has also been involved in direct action campaigning, most notably against British nuclear weapons on the River Clyde at Faslane. He was arrested at Faslane several times, as part of the CND 'Big Blockade', and in August 2004 he and three other MSPs were among dozens of protesters arrested. He was involved in a long-running court case over the destruction of a field of rapeseed at the Roslin Institute near Dalkeith in 1999. Although initially found guilty of "wilfully and recklessly" destroying plants belonging to Monsanto Company, all charges were quashed due to a delay in the hearing of the appeal, which Mr Ballard claimed was because the Crown was unable to provide relevant evidence. Ballard's Parliamentary Register of Interests indicated that he held membership of several organisations, including: Friends of the Earth, Sustrans, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Democratic Left Scotland, Reforesting Scotland, Water of Leith Conservation Trust, Friends of Inverleith Park, SSPCA, Advocates for Animals and Scottish Education and Action for Development. Until 2005 he was also an unpaid director of UK charity Seeds for Change, treasurer of the Scottish Environmental Festivals association and is on the editorial board of the Scottish Left Review, a bi-monthly cross-party journal of the Scottish left. Rector of the University of Edinburgh In February 2006 he stood for election as Rector the University of Edinburgh standing against MP for Henley Boris Johnson, pro-Palestine journalist John Pilger and former Scotsman editor Magnus Linklater. The profile of the Rectorial election had been raised by Johnson's candidature. The election took place on 15 and 16 February 2006, with a record turn out of almost 8000. A system of Single Transferable Vote was used. In the final round Mark Ballard received 3,597 votes against Magnus Linklater's 3,052 and was elected. He was formally installed on 9 June 2006 in a ceremony in the university's Old College. Present at this ceremony were the Chancellor of the university, HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the University Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Timothy O'Shea, and Mark Ballard's predecessor as Rector, Labour MP Tam Dalyell. In this capacity he worked on issues of concern to students and university staff, including playing a prominent role in the movement which led to the complete abolishing of student tuition fees in Scotland in 2008. He was succeeded as Rector in 2009 by journalist