A student at a UK university has vowed to paint over a mural honoring students who died during World War I, calling it a “mural of white men.”
The comments left people outraged; the student group she leads has distanced itself from her comments.
Emily Dawes, the president of Southampton University’s student union, said in a post on Twitter that she wants to remove a memorial to students from the university who died during the war.
The mural was painted by Sir William Rothenstein in 1916 as a memorial to British students who were killed in the war. The young soldiers in the mural are depicted collecting the degrees they were unable to finish.
Dawes’ declaration has sparked a huge backlash, prompting the union she heads to issue a statement saying it didn’t agree with what she said.
“This is a personal view. and not that of the union. We do not believe the statement was said to cause upset or disrespect to anyone and does not follow our mission or values. We have reached out to our president to ask for a statement to be released,” the union said in a statement.
‘Absolutely Appalled’
One Conservative councilor said that he was offended by what Dawes suggested.“Universities, once the home of free speech and challenging debate, are turning into creches for spoilt brats. This latest demonstration of infantilism simply brings the whole of Southampton and its University into disrepute. Ms. Dawes should retract, apologize and resign her position.”
Whitehouse is a councilor on the Isle of Wight.
Apology
Prior to heading the Southampton union, Dawes was president of the university’s Feminist Society, the Echo said. She is currently on sabbatical from studying for an astrophysics degree.After the backlash following her comment, Dawes said she didn’t mean to be disrespectful to anyone.
“My intention was to promote strong, female leadership and not the eradication and disrespect of history,” she said in a statement. “I had no intention of the tweet being taken literally and upon reflection, have realized how inappropriate it is.”