Colonial legacy triggers campus rows

THE inquiry follows a number of rows over the colonial legacy at universities.

Two years ago, a bronze cockerel was removed from Jesus College, Cambridge, following a student outcry because it had been looted from Africa in the 19th century.

The university agreed to hold discussions on the future of the Benin bronze, including possible repatriation to Nigeria.

Oxford students ran a campaign in 2015 to tear down a statue of the 19th century imperialist Cecil Rhodes. They claimed the statue, at Oriel College, was offensive to ethnic minority students, but the university resisted their demands.

At Manchester University last year, students painted over a mural featuring the Rudyard Kipling poem If, over claims the writer was racist. They said that because another of his poems, The White Man’s Burden, was offensive by today’s standards, all his other work should be ‘no-platformed’.