Rhodes University votes to keep its name
The Rhodes council says most of its students are from poor and working-class backgrounds, and its values are very different from those Cecil John Rhodes espoused
The Rhodes University council voted by 15 votes to nine by way of a secret ballot at last week’s meeting to retain the institution’s name, after a process started two years ago to advance transformation. The continuing prominence of Victorian archcolonialist and educational benefactor Cecil John Rhodes at South African universities has aroused strong feelings among students. In 2015, as a result of the Rhodes Must Fall campaign at the University of Cape Town, the Rhodes statue on the campus was removed. The Rhodes council said in a statement on Wednesday that in 2015 it had decided to advance transformation at the university through a broad transformation summit, involving its whole community. The summit, held in July this year, decided to design a process to resolve the issue of the university’s name.
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