Oxford Faces Pressure to Change as Universities Confront Racism
- City University drops Cass from name of its business school
- Move by London university shines an uneasy spotlight on Oxford
Protestors call for the removal of the statue of Cecil Rhodes outside Oriel College, at the University of Oxford on June 9.
Photographer: Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
If the University of Oxford thought it could avoid a real reckoning with its colonial past, the example set in London by one of the world’s most celebrated business schools has dramatically raised the stakes for a U.K. institution that has educated many a leader over the ages.
On Monday, City University in London’s financial district dropped the name Cass from its business school because of the link to an 18th-century merchant and proponent of slavery. It is the latest, irrefutable sign that colleges around the world cannot look away from their historic ties to racism in light of the Black Lives Matter movement.