Students want statue of Cecil Rhodes removed

Press, 26 July 1984, Page 6

Students want statue of Cecil Rhodes removed

PA Dunedin Students at the University of Otago want a statuette of Cecil Rhodes removed from display at the university. The inscription on the bronze figure says it was E resented to the university y "some admirers of a great Englishman”. The Student Representative Council says Rhodes ‘‘caused great suffering to the indigenous peoples of Southern Africa with his exploitative policies.” When Rhodes died in 1902 he left a fortune gained in Southern Africa to pay for scholarsliips for students from important British colonies and every state and territory of the United States. Two are awarded each year from New Zealand and 29 have been to University of Otago students.

The Students’ Association vice-president, Mr Alistair Thomson, said Rhodes was honoured by the statuette. “Everybody who goes to a University Council meeting must pass by it,” he said. “If there was a swastika there people would take notice. “I am not saying he was as bad as Hitler, but I don’t think we should display it.” Mr Thomson said the recent television series “Africa,” narrated by the historian, Basil Davidson, had helped spur interest in Rhodes. The student council had resolved to direct its executive and student council representatives to “seek removal of the statuette from public display.” Mr Thomson said the scholarships should continue “because they do some good and because Rhodes has a

debt to pay.” “But the statue doesn’t have anything to do with benefits,” he said. Among Rhodes scholars from Otago are former Gov-ernor-General, Sir Arthur Pprritt, the 1936 Olympic gold medallist, Jack Lovelock, a former Cabinet Minister, Mr Hugh Templeton, and a former All Black and apartheid critic, Chris Laidlaw. The Rhodes scholarship, to Oxford University, covers fees, air fares, and an annual allowance of £3630. The 18-inch statuette is a replica of one erected in Bulawayo in what was Rhodesia. It is believed that the original, which was nearly 11 feet high, was taken down with the coming of “majority rule” to Zimbabwe.