LONDON—Oxford University’s storied debating society sparred Tuesday over whether or not to venerate Cecil Rhodes, whose controversial legacy is at the center of an escalating spat between students and faculty.

The row divides those who want to remove memorials to Rhodes, a colonial-era businessman and Oxford alumnus who bequeathed his fortune to set up the famous scholarship that still bears his name, and those who say expunging such figures on the basis of political correctness risks setting a dangerous precedent.

Student protesters are demanding that Oriel College, one of Oxford’s constituent colleges, remove a statue of Rhodes. And, undergraduates at University College, where Bill Clinton studied as a Rhodes scholar, have voted to rename the Rhodes computer room.

But some faculty members and distinguished alumni disagree. They say expunging traces of Rhodes would be an illiberal act in itself. Leaders at Oxford say Rhodes, whose endowment provides for 89 international students to attend the university each year, should be appraised as a historical figure, and not judged by today’s standards.

A recent poll by Cherwell, the university’s newspaper, found 54% of Oxford students were in favor of keeping the Oriel edifice.