An Oxford University college has said it hopes to remove a plaque dedicated to Cecil Rhodes and will also consider taking down a statue of the British imperialist after a campaign by students.
More than 2,300 people have signed a petition calling on Oriel college to remove the dedications. Rhodes was a student at the college in the 1870s and a plaque dedicated to his legacy has been at the college-owned 6 King Edward Street since 1906.
In a statement, Oriel said the college “does not share Cecil Rhodes’s values or condone his racist views or actions” and that it hopes to receive consent from Oxford council to remove the plaque. A consultation will start this week before a formal application to the council.
“Its wording is a political tribute, and the college believes its continuing display on Oriel property is inconsistent with our principles,” the college said in a statement, adding that consent must be obtained from the council because the building is in a conservation area.
The college also announced a six-month consultation on the future of the statue of Rhodes, starting in February 2016. Removing the statue, part of a Grade-II listed building, is trickier because it would require planning consent. The statue has also been listed by Historic England as an object of historical interest, in part because of Rhodes’s chequered reputation.
But the college acknowledged that the statue could be seen as “an uncritical celebration of a controversial figure, and the colonialism and the oppression of black communities he represents: a serious issue in a college and university with a diverse and international mix of students and staff, and which aims to be a welcoming academic community”.
The consultation will involve students and staff of the college and the wider university, alumni, heritage bodies, the council and residents. A sign will be placed next to the statue in the meantime explaining Rhodes’s background.
His name is also attached to a scholarship programme for international students, with former US president Bill Clinton, the Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and his predecessor, Tony Abbott, among its alumni.
Oriel said the programme Rhodes endowed had given nearly 8,000 scholars from around the world the opportunity to study at Oxford. “But Rhodes was also a 19th-century colonialist whose values and world view stand in absolute contrast to the ethos of the scholarship programme today, and to the values of a modern university,” the statement said.
The campaign to remove dedications to Rhodes from Oriel was sparked by a similar campaign at a university campus in South Africa, where Rhodes is seen as the embodiment of 19th-century colonialism in Africa. A statue of Rhodes was attacked and later taken down as part of a concerted campaign by the University of Cape Town students, named #RhodesMustFall.
Rhodes, a mining tycoon and prime minister of the Cape colony, was a controversial figure even during his lifetime. In a collection of essays entitled Confessions of Faith, he enthused about colonialism and the racial superiority of Europeans. “Africa is still lying ready for us, it is our duty to take it,” he wrote. “It is our duty to seize every opportunity of acquiring more territory ... more territory simply means more of the Anglo-Saxon race, more of the best, the most human, most honourable race the world possesses.”
After his death in 1902, the Guardian obituary said: “At best his conception of civilisation was empirical, if not vulgar ... Rhodes’s career becomes definitely that of a wrecker instead of a constructor of South African development.”
Oriel said the strength of feeling behind the campaign to remove Rhodes had led it to examine how it fosters an inclusive atmosphere for minority students, and said it would increase outreach to BME applicants, step up equality and diversity training, and fundraise for more graduate scholarships at Oriel for students from Africa.
The Oxford Rhodes Must Fall campaign group said it was excited by the response. “It would be dangerous to uncritically celebrate this as an absolute victory,” it said in a post on Facebook. “We wish to restate our position that we are calling for the statue to be removed immediately, and will continue to organise for this purpose in the coming term.
“We reiterate that universities are no places for genocidal colonialists, or any other such toxic figures. We will continue with our call that all violent symbolism be immediately expunged from educational spaces.
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