Mandela, Oxford and a rebellion of the dons
University leader accused of using Nelson Mandela’s words inappropriately to defend colonial-era statues
Fourteen Oxford professors have accused Prof Louise Richardson, the university’s vice-chancellor, of putting words in the mouth of Nelson Mandela when she claimed he would have seen the ‘complex problems’ thrown up by the Rhodes Must Fall movement
OXFORD University’s vice-chancellor has been condemned by dons who have accused her of making “unwarranted claims” about Nelson Mandela.
Prof Louise Richardson has been criticised by 14 of her university’s own professors who warned that she should not “presume to speak for black students or people of colour”. Writing to
The Daily Telegraph, the academics said that it was “inappropriate” for her to “ventriloquise” the late anti-apartheid leader.
The row comes amid rising tensions in Oxford, which faces renewed calls to tear down the statue of Cecil Rhodes from Oriel College over his links with Britain’s colonial past. It is among dozens of monuments at risk of being torn down in the name of anti-racism.
The academics’ intervention follows remarks made by Prof Richardson last week. Asked by The Telegraph whether Mandela would have opposed the Rhodes Must Fall campaign, she said: “I think he was a man of deep nuance who recognised complex problems for what they were. And I don’t think he sought simplistic solutions to complex problems. The question is, how do we judge people? How do you judge Cecil Rhodes? Do we judge him by our values today or do we judge him by the context of his time?
“This is what education is all about. I don’t think we can pretend our history is different from what it was.”
Prof Richardson pointed to a speech given by Mr Mandela in 2003 to launch the Mandela Rhodes Foundation, a partnership with the Rhodes Trust to offer scholarships to African students.
“He said that we have to acknowledge our past but focus on the future.
“Hiding our history is not the route to enlightenment. We have to understand our history and we have to confront our history,” she said. The group of history, English, law and politics academics said that they supported the Rhodes Must Fall campaign and they criticised Prof Richardson for drawing on Mandela’s own words to “defend colonial-era statues”.
“This would be inappropriate ventriloquising in any context,” their letter said. “It is especially so now, when universities need to listen to, not presume to speak for, black students and people of colour.”
Prof Richardson declined to respond to the letter, whose signatories included Robert Gildea, a professor of modern history, Elleke Boehmer, a professor of world literature, Miles Tendi, an associate professor in African politics and Faisal Devji, a professor of Indian history.
The lead signatory was Prof James Mcdougall, a tutor in modern history at Trinity College, who previously organised an open letter from academics criticising the “simple minded” view of British colonialism of their fellow academic Prof Nigel Biggar.
Prof Biggar, an expert in moral philosophy, had said that society should take a more balanced view of the empire rather than simply remembering it with shame.
Oxford has come under pressure in recent weeks amid the Black Lives Matter protests, with students writing dozens of letters to the vice-chancellor and college heads demanding that institutional racism be tackled. On Monday, the university told students that they can apply for “mitigating circumstances” if their performance in exams was affected by George Floyd’s death.
It followed a student campaign which called for leaders to recognise that black students have been left feeling “traumatised” by watching videos of Mr Floyd’s last moments.
A separate open letter was sent to the vice-chancellor this week from the university’s black and minority ethnic staff network, which accused her of sending “limited and inadequate” messages to staff about countering institutional racism.