Now snowf lake students censor ‘racist’ Kipling
They paint over classic verses put on university wall to inspire hard work
STUDENTS have been branded ‘snowflakes’ after removing a poem by the Victorian writer Rudyard Kipling from a university wall over claims that he was ‘racist’.
Undergraduates at the University of Manchester painted over a mural featuring the celebrated poem If in their students’ union because they feared it would upset ethnic minorities.
The 1895 work contains no reference to race, but the students said it was still offensive because some of Kipling’s other works are about colonialism.
His 1899 poem The White Man’s Burden has been criticised in modern times for advocating colonialism and portraying other races as inferior.
It is the latest in a string of similar incidents involving students trying to remove references to controversial historical figures at universities.
Kipling’s If gives advice about how to be a strong and resilient man and has often been used to inspire young people, because it advocates self-discipline and hard work.
Staff at the students’ union commissioned a local artist to paint it to motivate undergraduates in their studies.
But on Friday the union’s student representatives complained that they had not been consulted and decided to have it removed.
They replaced it with the 1978 poem Still I Rise by American civil rights activist Maya Angelou, which was read by Nelson Mandela at his presidential inauguration in 1994.
Welfare officer Deej MalikJohnson told The Tab website: ‘On Friday, we noticed an artist had painted a Rudyard Kipling poem in the students’ union. This was done without our consultation or approval.
‘This was especially problematic given the poet’s imperialistic and racist work such as The White Man’s Burden, where Kipling explains how it is the responsibility of white men to “civilise” black and Asian people through colonialism.
‘We decided to paint over that poem and replace it with Still I Rise by Maya Angelou, a poem about resilience and overcoming our history by a brilliant black woman.’
A spokesman for the union said: ‘We understand that we made a mistake in our approach to a recent piece of artwork by failing to garner student opinion at the start of a new project. We accept that the result was inappropriate and for that we apologise.’
He added that the union would make changes to ‘guarantee that student voices are heard and considered properly’ so that ‘every outcome is representative of our membership’.
‘We’re working closely with the union’s elected officers to learn all we can from this situation and are looking forward to introducing powerful, relevant and meaningful art installations across the students’ union building over the coming months,’ he said.
Chris McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, criticised the Manchester students saying: ‘This is outrageous cultural vandalism. Kipling is a much beloved poet.
‘These students are closing off access to one of our most popular poems and it is Liberal Fascism.
‘They are snowflakes who should not be indulged. Forcing your views on other people should have no place in British society.’
The University of Manchester said it would not be appropriate to comment because the students’ union is an independent body.
It comes after Oxford University students led an unsuccessful campaign to tear down a statue of the 19th century imperialist Cecil Rhodes. They also forced the university authorities to move a portrait of Theresa May by putting up signs saying she was ‘hostile’ to immigrants.
At Bristol, students tried to force the authorities to change the name of a building named after benefactor Henry Overton Wills III, a cigarette maker whose family company was said to have benefited from slavery.
Critics have said it is wrong for students to try to censor the past and that they should instead view writers and figures in their historical context.