It’s official: Rhodes University will not change its name.
Following some years of highly charged debate and wide consultation‚ the Rhodes Council‚ the university’s highest decision-making body‚ made the formal announcement on Wednesday.
The announcement followed a secret ballot of council members at a meeting at the end of November.
The decision was not a unanimous one. According to a statement issued by the university council on Wednesday‚ 15 out of 24 council members at the meeting voted against a name change while the remaining nine voted in favour of it.
The university council said in its statement that it had been a difficult decision to make and there were no winners from the process.
Although the council outlined dozens of considerations in a six-page long statement‚ the bottom line seems to be that the university simply does not have the money to finance a name change.