College bosses have been blasted for laying on a ‘decolonising’ campus tour during which the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson was branded ‘problematic’.
Lincoln College mentioned Tennyson ‘supported imperialism’ and his ‘failings’ wanted to be ‘acknowledged and regretted’.
Lincolnshire-born Tennyson, whose well-known works embody The Cost Of The Gentle Brigade, was Poet Laureate for Queen Victoria and died in 1892.
Round 150 college students took half within the tour across the college’s buildings which sought to show the ‘offensive views’ of historic figures featured on the campus.
College bosses have been blasted for laying on a ‘decolonising’ campus tour during which the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (pictured) was branded ‘problematic’
Round 150 college students took half within the tour (pictured) across the college’s buildings which sought to show the ‘offensive views’ of historic figures featured on the campus
Different main figures with hyperlinks to Lincolnshire shamed on the tour included the scientist Isaac Newton and naturalist Joseph Banks, who based Kew Gardens.
One college employees member, who requested to not be named, mentioned: ‘I’m fairly certain will probably be step one to Lincoln attempting to rename the college buildings away from the good historic figures of Lincolnshire historical past, like Tennyson, to one thing ridiculous just like the Greta Thunberg Constructing.
‘Sadly, I can not converse up with out the defenders of this woke nonsense attempting to get me fired.’
A campus constructing is known as after Tennyson and his statue is on the grounds of Lincoln Cathedral.
College students on the tour have been proven a not too long ago erected plaque, which goals to reinforce ‘equality and inclusion’.
It says Tennyson believed Africans and Asians have been ‘youngsters with out a civilisation and historical past’. It additionally claims he supported Jamaica governor Edward Eyre, who ‘unleashed a reign of terror in opposition to black Jamaicans’.
The plaque provides: ‘As a college, we acknowledge and remorse the failings of our forebears, in addition to recognising their achievements.’
College students on the tour have been proven a not too long ago erected plaque (pictured), which goals to reinforce ‘equality and inclusion’
‘Decolonising the curriculum isn’t about cancel tradition,’ mentioned a spokesman for the College of Lincoln (basic view)
The tour, known as ‘Reimagining our Campus’, aimed to ‘discover the complicated and problematic historical past of the figures after whom a number of the buildings have been named’.
A college spokesman mentioned: ‘Decolonising the curriculum isn’t about cancel tradition. It means re-examining points of our historical past which is perhaps uncomfortable or minimize in opposition to standard knowledge.’
He pressured: ‘Now we have no intention of renaming buildings or diminishing the achievements of any greats in our county’s proud historical past.’
