“There is a typically juvenile, lamely PC, Leftist student and staff demand at Oriel College that a statue of Cecil John Rhodes — a large benefactor of the College and Oxford University (the Rhodes Scholarships as one example) — be removed because he was seen as an instrument of British colonialism in Southern Africa many years ago. The college fecklessly has suggested a disclaimer notice of any support for Rhodes’ actions be placed next to the statue.. This is a pointed reply… (Hat tip to AP) ” Dr. John A
“Reply to the POO throwers & the “Rhodes Must Fall ” activists , From Oriel College Oxford .. By Roland Paterson-Jones
“Dear scrotty students, Adjective. (comparative more scrotty, superlative most scrotty). (slang) grotty; dirty; unpleasant). Cecil Rhodes’s generous bequest has contributed greatly to the comfort and well-being of many generations of Oxford students – a good many of them, dare we say it, better, brighter and more deserving than you. This doesn’t necessarily mean we approve of everything Rhodes did in his lifetime – but then we don’t have to. Cecil Rhodes died over a century ago. Autres temps, autres moeurs2.( If wishes were fishes we’d all cast nets. … Translation 2: One good turn deserves another)
If you don’t understand what this means – and it wouldn’t remotely surprise us if that were the case – then we really think you should ask yourself the question: “Why am I at Oxford?”
Oxford, let us remind you, is the world’s second oldest extant university. Scholars have been studying here since at least the 11th century. We’ve played a major part in the invention of Western civilisation, from the 12th century intellectual renaissance through the Enlightenment and beyond. Our alumni include William of Ockham, Roger Bacon, William Tyndale, John Donne, Sir Walter Raleigh, Erasmus, Sir Christopher Wren, William Penn, Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), Samuel Johnson, Robert Hooke, William Morris, Oscar Wilde, Emily Davison, Cardinal Newman.