Final fate of Rhodes statue ‘no foregone conclusion’
Acontroversial statue of Cecil Rhodes may stay in place at Oxford’s Oriel College, according to the woman leading an investigation into its future. In an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph, Carole Souter said it “was not a foregone conclusion” that “Rhodes would fall”.
Although the college’s governing body has expressed its “wish” to remove the memorial to the 19th century imperialist, Ms Souter, chairman of the Independent Commission of Inquiry, said: “We acknowledge politely that the governing body has expressed a view but there wouldn’t be any point at all setting up this sort of Commission if it was already a foregone conclusion.
“It’s not a foregone conclusion in either direction.”
In June, Oriel voted to set up the inquiry to deal with the issue of the Rhodes legacy along with a review of how the college’s 21st century commitment to diversity can sit more easily with its past. Critics have labelled Rhodes one of the “architects of apartheid” in South Africa, where he served as prime minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896, when the government restricted black Africans’ rights by increasing the financial criteria people required in order to vote. The “Rhodes Must Fall” movement, established in 2015, has lobbied for the renaming of Rhodes University in the Eastern Cape and the removal of the statue at Oriel along with a plaque on King Edward Street.
In 2016, the college claimed it would lose about £100million worth of gifts if it removed the statue of the politician and industrialist, who set up the provisions of the Rhodes Scholarship, an international postgraduate award.
Oxford-educated Ms Souter, the current Master of St Cross College, said that as well as “talking to as many people as possible with as many different perspectives as possible”, the Commission would seek to clarify “what is currently understood truth and what is myth” about Rhodes.
On Tuesday, the Rhodes Must Fall campaign welcomed the diversity of the Commissioners, appointed by Ms Souter, which include the broadcaster Zeinab Badaw, former shadow culture secretary Peter Ainsworth, lawyer Margaret Casely-hayford, and William Beinart, formerly Rhodes Professor of Race relations and founding director at the university’s African Studies Centre.
Confirming that a “definitive” set of recommendations would be made by the Commission to Oriel’s governing body in the New Year, Ms Souter said the inquiry would “go beyond statues” to investigate “strand by strand the implicit messages that have been given out by this place about who it wants to see among its staff and students”.
Ms Souter said she was conscious some critics will cry “whitewash” if the Commission recommends that the statue must stay. Asked if the statue would still be in place if it wasn’t 30ft up on the front of the college, she said: “I don’t know. I hope it wouldn’t have been taken down without consultation of all of the parties.
“If we do our job properly, people may still disagree with the outcome.
Critics have labelled Rhodes an ‘architect of apartheid’ in South Africa, where he served as a colonial prime minister
‘The more I read about Rhodes the more I discover that he’s an extremely complicated character’
But I would be very committed to an outcome where people say, ‘We still think you’re wrong but we see the stance you’ve taken’.”
Oriel’s students are two thirds in favour of taking the statue down, but Ms Souter stressed the importance of also “listening to the voices of the academics who’ve been here for many years” and “the alumni who were students once and the city and wider community”. “The more I read about Rhodes the more I discover that he’s an extremely complicated character,” she added.