Oxford University’s statue of Cecil Rhodes
is to stay in place after furious donors threatened to withdraw gifts
and bequests worth more than £100 million if it was taken down,
The Daily Telegraph's
Javier Espinoza has learnt (Update: cheers to
Instapundit for the link).
The governing body of Oriel College,
which owns the statue, has ruled out its removal after being warned
that £1.5m worth of donations have already been cancelled, and that it
faces dire financial consequences if it bows to the Rhodes Must Fall
student campaign.
A leaked copy of a report prepared
for the governors and seen by this newspaper discloses that wealthy
alumni angered by the “shame and embarrassment” brought on the
690-year-old college by its own actions have now written it out of their
wills.
The college now fears a
proposed £100m gift - to be left in the will of one donor - is now in jeopardy following the row.
The donors were astonished by a proposal to remove a plaque marking
where Rhodes lived, and to launch a six-month consultation over whether
the statue of the college’s biggest benefactor should be taken down.
… Oriel has now been panicked into cancelling the proposed
six-month consultation and the plaque marking the building where he
lived while he was a student at Oriel will also stay, but both will have
an accompanying sign providing historical “context”.
… Sean Power, Oriel’s development director and the man in
charge of fundraising, told the governors in a report that the college
was unprepared for the national and international condemnation of the
suggestion that the statue might be removed, described by the classicist
Professor Mary Beard as a “completely barking” plan to “erase” history.
Mr Power wrote that: “The overall reaction has been
significant, much more than any in the College predicted. It has also
been overwhelmingly negative of the College’s position and its actions.
“The likely long-term impact on development and fundraising, assuming
our current course of action regarding the statue, is potentially
extremely damaging…our alumni do not need many excuses not to give, and
for many this will be such an excuse for years to come.
“The
current situation is generating a media storm that is right at the
limits of what the University can deal with, and support us in.”
Punching back
twice as hard.
