Likeness of British imperialist to remain outside Oriel college despite recent Rhodes Must Fall campaign

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Oriel College has said it will not remove the controversial statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oxford University despite a campaign by students who believe the British imperialist’s legacy should not be celebrated.

The Rhodes Must Fall movement said the statue of the man who was an ardent imperialist and left a sizeable sum to the college in his will, was representative of Britain’s “imperial blind spot” and should be taken down.

But on Thursday the college, which owns the statue, said a consultation process had shown “overwhelming” support for keeping it.

“Following careful consideration, the college’s governing body has decided that the statue should remain in place and that the college will seek to provide a clear historical context to explain why it is there,” it said.



The college confirmed it had been warned of the possibility that it would lose about £100m in gifts should the statue be taken down but a spokesman insisted the financial implications were not the primary consideration.



He said the college believed the discussion over whether or not the statue should stay needed to be addressed “in a spirit of free speech and open debate, with a readiness to listen to divergent views”.

The college had intended to open such a debate when, in December last year, it issued a statement making clear it was ready to consult on taking the statue down and agreed to move a plaque dedicated to Rhodes.

“Since that announcement, we have received an enormous amount of input, including comments from students and academics, alumni, heritage bodies, national and student polls and a further petition, as well as over 500 direct written responses to the college,” the spokesman said.

“The overwhelming message we have received has been in support of the statue remaining in place, for a variety of reasons.”

The college said the plaque would also be retained and its context made clear after a further consultation, which is expected to conclude in the autumn.

At the time of the plaque’s removal, Brian Kwoba, one of the campaigners, said Rhodes was “responsible for all manner of stealing land, massacring tens of thousands of black Africans, imposing a regime of unspeakable labour exploitation in the diamond mines and devising proto-apartheid policies”.

He said: “The significance of taking down the statue is simple: Cecil Rhodes is the Hitler of southern Africa. Would anyone countenance a statue of Hitler? The fact that Rhodes is still memorialised with statues, plaques and buildings demonstrates the size and strength of Britain’s imperial blind spot.”

A survey by the independent university newspaper Cherwell showed strong support for the campaign group among students but others have accused it of seeking to rewrite history.

The university’s chancellor, Chris Patten, told students that if they could not embrace freedom of thought, they may “think about being educated elsewhere”.

In an article for the Times Literary Supplement, the celebrated classicist Mary Beard told the students: “The battle isn’t won by taking the statue away and pretending those people didn’t exist. It’s won by empowering those students to look up at Rhodes and friends with a cheery and self-confident sense of unbatterability.”

In its statement, the college said it believed the debate had “underlined that the continuing presence of these historical artefacts is an important reminder of the complexity of history and of the legacies of colonialism still felt today”.

It said that, by adding context, “we can help draw attention to this history, do justice to the complexity of the debate, and be true to our educational mission”.

A spokesman said that the possibility of withdrawn donations was “reported second hand” to the university but had not been confirmed.