Oxford ban on ‘sex pest’ scholar’s name

STUDENTS at an Oxford college have voted to rebrand a room named after a classical scholar who was accused after his death of sexual harassment.

The students said Corpus Christi’s Fraenkel room should be renamed to spare the feelings of college members who might be offended by it.

Eduard Fraenkel was accused of sexual misconduct towards female students whilst he was professor of classics at Corpus.

However, the allegations only came to light after his death in 1970, and were made in a memoir by Baroness Mary Warnock, a prominent philosopher.

The Corpus Christi move follows a number of rows over buildings named after controversial figures, with campaigners calling for them to be rebranded. Critics say it amounts to censorship and ‘erasing history’.

The vote on the Fraenkel room was taken by the student-run Junior Common Room (JCR), which represents the interests of college members. On Sunday night they voted in favour of lobbying the college to change the name of the room and remove Fraenkel’s portrait from it.

They also voted in favour of boycotting the existing name in the meantime, ruling that JCR committee members should now refer to it by a neutral name until negotiations with the college on changing the name officially are concluded.

Freya Chambers, who proposed the motion, told student newspaper Cherwell: ‘The Fraenkel room is used frequently by female students. In light of this we thought it was vital to change the name.’

The allegations about Fraenkel have previously caused controversy. In 2006, Cambridge professor Mary Beard said: ‘It is impossible not to feel sisterly outrage at what would now be deemed abuse of power.’

Fraenkel is regarded as one of the greatest classical scholars of the 20th century. Born to Jewish parents in Berlin, he came to Britain in the 1930s after anti- semitic laws were passed in Germany.