The Right Opens Front in Fight Over Rhodes Scholars’ Namesake
The Rhodes scholarship is one of academia’s greatest honors, but many current recipients and alumni have been aiming to knock its founder off his perch.
Now a conservative group is resisting the push to purge Rhodes, and some of them are turning an internet discussion group reserved for Rhodes scholars and alumni into a slugfest, with commenters trading accusations of lying, bigotry and racism.
Adding to the tumult is the refusal by the Rhodes Trust, which runs the scholarship program, to host Rhodes Scholars for Intellectual Diversity on its website. The trust says it won’t host the conservative group because its views aren’t being articulated by current Rhodes scholars, though it does make room for a group of current and former scholars aligned with those critical of Rhodes.