Rhodes Statue at Oriel College

In 2015, the student organisation Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford was established to protest against the statue of British imperialist Cecil Rhodes at Oriel College. The initial two-year campaign led to promises from Oriel to contextualise the monument, which ultimately went unfulfilled. The campaign was reignited in June 2020 following the death of George Floyd, and in response, Oriel College announced its desire to remove the statue. However, the introduction by the Government of a ‘retain and explain’ policy made this impossible. Oriel College’s decision to contextualise the statute with a small ‘information sign’ has been dismissed as ‘woefully inadequate’ by activists.