Name of Oxford College
Members of the group argue the statue should fall because of its links with the colonial past and Rhodes views on other races. However, the university’s vice-chancellor, Louise Richardson, said last week that she thinks the statue should stay.
The RMF movement was already successful in removing a statue of the 19th-century politician in South Africa last year and it is looking to replicate this in the UK.
A source at the University, however, said changing the name of the computer room will take time – if their proposal is successful considered – as it has to go through the formal bureaucratic process. The president of the JCR has been contacted for comment.
The revelations is likely to spark the debate of whether we should witness the removal of images or objects that cause offence to students. In recent months, students have campaign for “safe spaces” where views, speakers and even objects that students disagree with are banned from campus.
Students Oxford University are set to debate the movement that keeps putting pressure not only for the statue to fall but for the curriculum to be broaden as part of their "decolonisation" struggle.
Arguing in favour of the removal of the statue will be Ntokozo Qwabe and Athinangamso Esther Nkopo of the RMF movement alongside Yasmin Kumi, president of the Oxford African Society. Those arguing against it will be Oxford professors William Beinart and Nigel Biggar and barister Sophia Cannon.
Stuart Webber, president of the Oxford Union, said: "Over the past few months the Rhodes Must Fall campaign in Oxford has received increasing attention...I do not feel we can proceed with the following term ignoring the international debate surrounding the Rhodes Must Fall movement.
"The Rhodes Must Fall movement has become something of a national fixation. The movement’s proponents have been labelled hypocrites, revisionists and fascists; its opponents have been called colonialists, racists, and white supremacists.
A spokesperson from University College said: "The Rhodes Computer Room was set up in 1983 after donations from some former Rhodes Scholars of University College to mark the 80th anniversary of the Rhodes Trust.
