WHAT A SILLY SNOWFLAKE!
Storm over student union chief ’s vow to paint over First World War mural for showing ‘only white men’
A STUDENTS’ union president has caused outrage after vowing to destroy a historic First World War mural commemorating fallen troops because it featured only white men.
The work was painted in 1916 by Sir William Rothenstein as a tribute to university staff and students serving in the Great War.
It has hung in the senate room at Southampton University since the 2014 centenary of the outbreak of war.
But Emily Dawes, president of the university’s student union, said it should be covered up because the figures depicted in the painting are all white.
The astrophysics student wrote on Twitter: ‘Mark my words – we’re taking down the mural of white men in the uni senate room, even if I have to paint over it myself.’
Miss Dawes, whose family lives in Virginia in the US, later added: ‘As white people, we are so so ignorant and closed minded without even realising it. Listen to your black friends/colleagues/students and ask how you can be the ally they want!!!!!!’
The comments were made ahead of a campus debate on ‘All Things Black’, part of a series of events the student union is holding to mark Black History Month.
But they were condemned by a spokesman for the university, which said it was ‘very proud’ to display the mural.
Sir William’s grandson, Julian Rothenstein, who runs his own publishing business in London, said of her remarks: ‘It seems ridiculous, utterly ludicrous to me.’
The artist’s granddaughter Lucy Carter, 84, of Crewkerne, Somerset, said: ‘I think it’s very sad, people trying to change history. It’s sad that people should be overtaken by these concerns. Painting over it would be unnecessary.’
Royston Smith, the Tory MP for Southampton Itchen, said: ‘It is disappointing, especially as we approach the centenary of the Armistice, that the president of the students’ union feels it is acceptable to disregard the heroic sacrifice of soldiers who sought to defend the very freedoms, including free speech, which Miss Dawes has chosen to exercise. I hope she will reflect on what she has said and realise it has been conducted in poor taste.
‘Those who know the history of our island are fully aware of and appreciate the involvement of black and Asian soldiers against tyranny.’
The mural by Sir William, former principal of the Royal College of Art, shows a procession of academics and the conferring of a degree on an ‘unknown soldier’ undergraduate by the then Chancellor of Cambridge University.
It was presented to Southampton in 1959 by the artist’s son and features many noted academics from the time and the then Poet Laureate Robert Bridges. The mural was installed in the senate room in 2014 as part of a commemoration of the centenary of the start of the war.
Miss Dawes was president of the university’s Feminist Society before her election to the top post at the union earlier this year. She graduated from James Madison High School in America in 2015 with an advanced diploma, describing her high school interests as ‘softball and theatre’.
She is currently on sabbatical from her astrophysics degree. She says her favourite thing about living in Southampton is the availability of ‘lots of vegan food’.
Miss Dawes’s intervention follows growing calls for universities to ‘decolonise’ their curriculums and make them more diverse.
In the most notable case, Oxford University was embroiled in a row over a statue of Cecil Rhodes.
A Southampton University spokesman said: ‘We are very proud to display the mural which serves as a memorial to all members of British universities who served in the Great War.
‘This is particularly poignant in view of the forthcoming centenary of the Armistice which ended the conflict in 1918.’ Miss Dawes later apologised for her remarks, writing on Twitter yesterday: ‘Firstly, and most importantly, I would like to apologise for the offence and upset I have caused with what I said.
‘I never meant the disrespect to anyone past, present, and future. I had no intention of the tweet being taken literally, and upon reflection have realised how inappropriate it was.
‘My intention was to promote strong female leadership and not the eradication and disrespect of history. I do not believe that to make progress in the future, we should look to erase the past. Once again, I would like to apologise for the offence and upset.’
‘Disregard for the heroic sacrifice’