Yahoo Finance Cecil Rhodes statue staying for now despite independent inquiry telling Oxford it must come down
The statue on Oriel college building of British imperialist Cecil Rhodes
(PA)A controversial statue of imperialist Cecil Rhodes will remain on Oxford University building for now due to the “financial” challenge of removing it.
The governing body of an Oxford University college, which charges up to £56,000 a year to non-EU students, said it could take years to remove the statue with no promise of a result.
Oriel College’s ruling comes after a long-running campaign demanding the removal of the British imperialist’s monument gained renewed attention amid the Black Lives Matter movement.
Cecil Rhodes was a Victorian mining magnate who helped colonise large parts of Africa. He founded the colonies of Southern and Northern Rhodesia, named after himself –which have since been renamed Zimbabwe and Zambia.
He founded the De Beers firm, and devoted his wealth to acquiring territory for the British Empire – with the aim of uniting the whole continent under British rule. He believed that the English were “the first race in the world”. During his lifetime he almost single-handedly expanded the British Empire by 450,000 square miles.
The Rhodes Must Fall Oxford campaign group was begun by students in 2015, inspired by protests at the University of Cape Town to remove a statue of Rhodes at their university.
However, their petition to have the statue removed was rejected in 2016, after angry donors reportedly threatened to withdraw gifts worth more than £100 million if it were taken down.
An independent inquiry to examine Rhodes’ legacy was set up in June last year after the governing body of Oriel College “expressed their wish” to remove the statue from outside the college.
A majority of members on the commission supported the college’s original wish to remove the Rhodes’ statue.
But a statement by Oriel College on Thursday said: “In light of the considerable obstacles to removal, Oriel’s governing body has decided not to begin the legal process for relocation of the memorials.”
It added: “The Commission backed the College’s original wish (made in June 2020 and reaffirmed again by the College yesterday), to remove the statue, whilst acknowledging the complex challenges and costs presented by its removal in terms of heritage and planning consent.
“The governing body has carefully considered the regulatory and financial challenges, including the expected time frame for removal, which could run into years with no certainty of outcome, together with the total cost of removal.”
The College said it will instead focus its time and resources on “improving educational equality, diversity and inclusion amongst its student cohort and academic community”.
Lord Mendoza, provost of Oriel College, said: “It has been a careful, finely balanced debate and we are fully aware of the impact our decision is likely to have in the UK and further afield.
“We understand this nuanced conclusion will be disappointing to some, but we are now focused on the delivery of practical actions aimed at improving outreach and the day-to-day experience of BME students.
“We are looking forward to working with Oxford City Council on a range of options for contextualisation.”
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