Academic leads backlash over Oxford University statue of Cecil Rhodes
Students seeking to remove a plaque and statue of Cecil Rhodes outside Oriel College, Oxford, are no better than the man they seek to dishonor, writes Nigel Biggar, Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at Oxford University in “The Times” (December 22, 2015). If the cries of students in South Africa and England are acted on, other statues of world leaders in America as well as the United Kingdom might crack under the blows of hammers wielded by politically correct activists, says correspondent TREVOR GRUNDY
This Christmas, Nigel Biggar isn’t expecting any bouquets from politically correct students in South Africa and this country.
In an Opinion article published today in The Times, the respected Oxford University academic says under a headline reading “Message to students: Rhodes was no racist” that those calling for a plaque and statue of Cecil Rhodes to be removed from outside Oriel College, are no better than the 19th century founder of the British South Africa Company which received its charter from Queen Victoria in 1889.
Following the example of students in South Africa, a group of activists at Oxford University have said that the commemorations to Rhodes do not reflect the “inclusive culture” of Oxford University. Lobbied by the local manifestation of South Africa’s “Rhodes Must Fall” movement, the college has publicly repudiated Rhodes’s “colonialist” and “racist” views, claiming that they stand in “absolute contrast” to “the values of a modern university.”
And leading the “Rhodes Must Fall” in this country is a student from South Africa, Ntokozo Qwabe, who has been criticized on social media and accused of “disgraceful hypocrisy” considering he is himself a Rhodes Scholar.