Oxford University students vote to remove the Queen

It was a college MCR. When I was a member of an Oxford college JCR we voted on whether to rename the JCR after some England footballer - can’t remember which one and can’t remember whether the motion was passed. It is not to be taken seriously.

Williamson’s complete incompetence at being education secretary should be taken seriously.

@railman

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Cossy

Just feel that’s sad ! We cannot re-write history, just acknowledge it and learn from it !!

Who is rewriting history? (Apart from our worthless government, that is)

Taking down a photo isn't 'rewriting' anything.

Another storm in a teacup whipped up by the usual suspects. If they don’t want a picture of HMQ on their common room room walls, so what! I used to work in an Oxford college and the only picture of the Queen was in the main hall - it was a photo of her and Winston Churchill outside No. 10.

Oh dear - this room had meeting with perhaps as many as 24 post grad students, who decided they didn't want that picture on their walls.

Fine - take it down.

It is not something I could get even remotely annoyed at - for god's sake it's just a picture. The people getting intensely angry about it have been told to do so by the Murdoch media - they are being played in order to sow division and sell newspapers.

Congratulations - the angry brigade have been well and truly had.

As a broadcaster said earlier this morning - all our houses will now ben inspected by the Government to ensure we have a picture of the queen on the walls - just like the 'Dear Leader' in North Korea.

For goodness sake - get a grip!

Just feel that’s sad ! We cannot re-write history, just acknowledge it and learn from it !!

Damned if I'd want her watching me drink either. Unless she was there in flesh and blood, then that would be cool.

Maggiemaybe

Who’s Graham Smith?

I've found him. CEO of Republic? I don't do twitter, but he hasn't many followers, has he?

I voted to abolish the UK government when I was at college. I can't remember just how we planned to go about this, but I don't think Mr Heath took it very seriously.

Maybe you could address your issues to the MCR committee at Magdalen. Maybe they just didn't like the photo and needed an excuse to get rid of it.

Bring on the culture war! (said Gavin Williamson)

Parsley3

I am sure the Commonwealth is grateful for her tireless work but those members of the Commonwealth who came to the UK to live must have been very disappointed in their reception as there were no smiling waves from the Monarch to greet them. Our cultural heritage has a lot to answer for.

Genuine question, are there countries in the world whose culture and history is exemplary and don't have a lot to answer for ? Maybe there are. Much of history , wherever it may emanate from and we won't know too much about the past of any particular place if there aren't written records, but that doesn't mean horrible cruelties weren't inflicted by the people who inhabited those lands. Unfortunately not all human nature is good.

I visited Mexico a while back, like much of Latin America, Spain inflicted terrible injustices on the indigenous people....but the Mayans also inflicted great cruelty on each other, their culture is ridden with depictions of mass executions and the like.

Much of history is horrible, we can't change that.

Lin52 I see you don't understand the rationale behind no-platforming, but that doesn't surprise me.

Lin52

CanadianGran

I don't know... if you were sensitive about colonialism, why would you choose to get an education at one of the most conservative British universities?

I'm getting tired of all this political correctness; I think some of this is over the top.

Yes I wonder that myself, aah yes the prestige of having an Oxford degree.

Maybe, just maybe, because they're bright and want to study a subject they love.

Magdalen MCR only has postgrads, many of whom are likely to be foreign students.

What a load of fuss about nothing! I can't believe Gavin Williamson commented. I would have thought he might be better to do his main job properly.

Chardy

growstuff

Message from Dinah Rose, President of Magdalen College:

Here are some facts about Magdalen College and HM the Queen.
The Middle Common Room is an organisation of graduate students. They don't represent the College.
A few years ago, in about 2013, they bought a print of a photo of the Queen to decorate their common room.

They recently voted to take it down.
Both of these decisions are their own to take, not the College's.
Magdalen strongly supports free speech and political debate, and the MCR'S right to autonomy.

Maybe they'll vote to put it up again, maybe they won't.
Meanwhile, the photo will be safely stored.

Being a student is about more than studying. It's about exploring and debating ideas. It's sometimes about provoking the older generation.
Looks like that isn’t so hard to do these days.

I went to say exactly the same thing. They bought a print in 2013, and decided to take it down in 2121. (Not what the Express implied today!)

I actually think it's quite democratic to have a vote about taking it down, rather than just taking it down.

Provoking students is very easy too, you only have to have different ideas and thoughts,my goodness then you are no platform.

growstuff

A friend of mine has just informed me that when he was at Oxford, the JCR at his college voted to go to war against the US. These votes are not taken very seriously!

Apparently President Carter didn't reply to the declaration of war.

CanadianGran

I don't know... if you were sensitive about colonialism, why would you choose to get an education at one of the most conservative British universities?

I'm getting tired of all this political correctness; I think some of this is over the top.

Yes I wonder that myself, aah yes the prestige of having an Oxford degree.

vegansrock

Why would anyone want a picture of the Queen on their walls anyway? Their room, their choice. Why the fuss?

To fill papers/news programs?
Vaguely topical?
But if the point your making is other news worthy topics could have been chosen, I agree.

Thankyou chardy, growstuff

A friend of mine has just informed me that when he was at Oxford, the JCR at his college voted to go to war against the US. These votes are not taken very seriously!

grumppa

According to one newspaper, the portrait only went up in 2013. I certainly don’t remember one when I was there, in the company of a number of Rhodes Scholars incidentally, in the dim and distant past. The quoted reason, that the Queen represents recent colonial history, seems odd, given that nearly all our colonies have been disposed of during her reign.

The ‘electorate’ would have been just the MCR members.

Thank you for this post grumppa. Clear information is always key.

growstuff

Message from Dinah Rose, President of Magdalen College:

Here are some facts about Magdalen College and HM the Queen.
The Middle Common Room is an organisation of graduate students. They don't represent the College.
A few years ago, in about 2013, they bought a print of a photo of the Queen to decorate their common room.

They recently voted to take it down.
Both of these decisions are their own to take, not the College's.
Magdalen strongly supports free speech and political debate, and the MCR'S right to autonomy.

Maybe they'll vote to put it up again, maybe they won't.
Meanwhile, the photo will be safely stored.

Being a student is about more than studying. It's about exploring and debating ideas. It's sometimes about provoking the older generation.
Looks like that isn’t so hard to do these days.

I went to say exactly the same thing. They bought a print in 2013, and decided to take it down in 2121. (Not what the Express implied today!)

I actually think it's quite democratic to have a vote about taking it down, rather than just taking it down.

Who’s Graham Smith?

@GrahamSmith
Last week I took part in a debate at
@OxfordUnion
The students there voted overwhelmingly for abolition of the monarchy. #EndTheMonarchy

And it isn't a sentence #pedantalert

The last sentence was from Growstuff's post, the message from Dinah Rose wasn't a personal one to me.