Oriel College has voted in favour of removing the statue of Cecil Rhodes and will establish an independent inquiry to examine the key issues surrounding it, as a result of the Rhodes Must Fall campaign established four years ago.
The meeting of Oriel’s governing body followed a fortnight of protests by members of the campaign which was established in 2015. Rhodes Must Fall gained further momentum following the recent Black Lives Matter demonstrations across the world, and the toppling of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol.
In a public statement issued on Wednesday, the college wrote that they had: “expressed their wish to remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes … This is what they intend to convey to the independent commission.”
It continued: “Both of these decisions were reached after a thoughtful period of debate and reflection and with the full awareness of the impact these decisions are likely to have in Britain and around the world.
“The commission will deal with the issue of the Rhodes legacy and how to improve access and attendance of BAME undergraduate, graduate students and faculty, together with a review of how the college’s 21st century commitment to diversity can sit more easily with its past.”
The campaign said: “We have been down this route before, where Oriel College has committed to taking a certain action, but has not followed through: notably, in 2015, when the college committed to engaging in a six-month-long democratic listening exercise.
“Therefore, while we remain hopeful, our optimism is cautious. While the governing body of Oriel College have ‘expressed their wish’ to take down the statue, we continue to demand their commitment.”
