Cambridge University changes ‘colony’ name in bid to break ties with slavery
The renowned institution says student digs called “The Colony” does not reflect the values of the college
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Your support makes all the difference.Cambridge University has renamed student digs called The Colony as the name “does not reflect the values of the college”.
It is the latest of a series of challenges to slavery and colonial ties at the world’s third oldest university established in 1209.
The accommodation block, which houses undergraduates from Clare College, has been renamed Castle Court.
A Clare College spokesperson said: “It has become increasingly clear that the informal name for the site between Chesterton Lane and Castle Street has connotations which do not reflect the values of the College.
“The site is therefore being re-designated as Castle Court.”
In March, a judge dismissed a different college’s application to remove a memorial to a man with links to the slave trade.
Jesus College had petitioned to relocate a plaque to Tobias Rustat, who invested in the Royal African Company in the 17th century, from a wall in its chapel.
The same college successfully returned a bronze cockerel that had been looted from Nigeria back to the African country last year.
In 2019, the university commissioned an independent report into how it had benefitted from the Atlantic slave trade.
Details of the report have not yet been made public.
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