Main content

Patten criticism of Cecil Rhodes campaign 'scandalous'

One of the founding members of the campaign to move the statue of Cecil Rhodes at the University of Oxford to a museum says Lord Patten鈥檚 response to the campaign is 鈥渟candalous鈥.

Lord Patten, the university鈥檚 chancellor, told the Today programme that if Oxford students did not demonstrate a 鈥済enerosity of spirit鈥 towards history and respect for the principle of free speech 鈥渢hey should think about being educated elsewhere鈥.

But Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh, an international relations student at Oxford, said the campaign was 鈥渄oing exactly what Lord Patten says a university is for.鈥

鈥淭he notion that Cecil Rhodes should be un-reflexively glorified鈥 we think is no longer tolerable,鈥 he told the Today programme.

Release date:

Duration:

4 minutes

This clip is from