In 2021, the Rhodes Trust launched a Legacy, Equity and Inclusion (LEI) Action Plan which laid out guiding principles and goals, and established three advisory groups. Our aim was to hold conversations about our history, the legacy of our founder Cecil Rhodes, and how we can move forward as an organisation in pursuit of inclusive excellence.
The Rhodes Trust commissioned three LEI Advisory Groups of Scholars, staff and experts to explore the themes Responding to our History, Reimagining Rhodes House, and The Trust and Africa in the 21 Century. These groups reported in 2023. The Trust considered their recommendations and has taken a wide range of actions, including:
- Providing support for selection committees in leading meaningful conversations among committee members and with applicants on legacy questions.
- Agreeing and sharing a statement on legacy: The Rhodes Trust solemnly acknowledges and honours the people in southern Africa whose labour and riches created the original wealth for the formation of the Rhodes Scholarship.
- Considering how our history is curated and shared within the spaces of Rhodes House. This has led to a new inscription carved into the stonework of Rhodes House in a sleeping African language, |xam, and provision of stones showing English translations of both this and the original Latin inscription on the parapet of Rhodes House that honours Cecil Rhodes.
- Ensuring that the foundational role of Africa in the establishment of the Rhodes Scholarships is known and appreciated by all Rhodes Scholars. Scholars in Residence who have connections to southern Africa have worked to develop orientation materials for new Scholars in Residence, alongside tours of Rhodes House that centre the southern African origins of the Scholarship.
- Establishing a public art programme which sees Rhodes House hosting exhibitions that address issues relating to our history and legacy and seek to explore ways to learn from and acknowledge the past. This is one part of a programme to open Rhodes House more frequently to visitors, improving accessibility to our spaces and promoting engagement with the community around us.
- Facilitating a programme of Scholar-led cultural events, discussions and trips.
- Creating an outreach ambassador scheme to encourage a more diverse pool of applicants for the Scholarships around the world, without diluting the high bar of excellence required for selection.
- Embedding an awareness of equality and inclusion considerations across our ways of working and within our staff values.
- Using our ‘Big Build’ project to improve accessibility to Rhodes House and create inclusive spaces for study, debate and reflection.
- Working to provide contextual information about our history, including curated tours, for those encountering Rhodes House for the first time.
