Oxford to display women’s portraits after PC protests

OXFORD University is to display 20 portraits of women and people from ethnic minorities after being criticised for having too many ‘dead white males’ on its walls.

The pictures will ‘promote greater diversity’, it said, and show that people of all backgrounds were welcome to study there.

Among those depicted are broadcasters Dame Esther Rantzen and Reeta Chakrabarti, the novelist Jeanette Winterson, who has written on gay and lesbian issues, and scientist Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell.

Among the men to be added will be Left-wing film-maker Ken Loach and South African rights activist Kumi Naidoo, while the new portraits will also include gays, lesbians and people with disabilities.

It follows criticism from students that the paintings usually depict middle-aged white men. In 2015, they demanded that Oriel College remove a statue of 19th century imperialist Cecil Rhodes, claiming it was offen- sive to ethnic minority students. The university originally said there would be a consultation on the issue, but after an uproar from alumni it rejected the demands. Critics said the campaign showed a generation of politically correct students wanted to ‘erase the past’ because they could not cope with controversial issues.

Oxford said all existing portraits of historical figures connected with the university would stay in place.

Trudy Coe, its head of equality, told the BBC: ‘The portraits have been almost exclusively men. We’re just beginning to redress the balance. It’s sending a signal to a wider range of students that they belong here.’

She said the pictures would reflect modern university life after staff and students nominated the subjects. Those depicted have links with the university, such as being former students or academic staff.