This September will mark four years since the University of Edinburgh renamed the David Hume Tower ’40 George Square’. This symbolic reparation was welcomed by staff and students who rightly opposed the commemoration of someone linked to the Atlantic slave trade, however influential their philosophical works. Whilst this was a positive step towards acknowledging the university and the wider community’s links to slavery and colonialism, it was by no means satisfactory to repair the damage, which has profoundly impacted the institution and the experiences of its students.
Although it’s been four years and little else has been done by way of reparations, the University of Edinburgh is ahead of other Russell Group universities who have failed to achieve similar reparations. This includes the refusal by the University of Bristol to rename buildings, most recently including Goldney House, which Bristol students claim should be renamed due to the Goldney family’s connections to slavery. Whilst the University of Bristol should be commended for establishing a ‘Reparative Futures’ fund of £10 million, by not renaming buildings they’ve failed to make adequate reparations, because the commemoration of individuals who profited from slavery perpetuates racial oppression.
Whilst the University of Edinburgh is yet to make similar monetary contributions, such compensation should be made following completion of the in-depth review led by academics into the university’s involvement in slavery and colonialism. This project, ‘Decolonised Transformations: Confronting the University’s Legacies of Slavery and Colonialism‘, aims to uncover the extent of the university’s ties to slavery and colonialism, and provide recommendations to address the structural racism present in the university by the end of 2024.
This project has the potential to become a model for other universities. The Research and Engagement Working Group (REWG) conducting this report are working with representatives from affected communities to ensure satisfactory restorative justice. This community engagement is something that other universities have ignored, including the University of Glasgow which, whilst commendably pledging £20 million towards a reparative justice programme, failed to include sufficient community engagement in their work. This was expressed by Esther Stanford-Xosei in the Race.Ed podcast ‘Undersong’, in which she discusses the failings of Glasgow University and her work within the REWG to represent affected communities in this project.
I am hopeful that this will make the University of Edinburgh a pioneer in reparative justice, but this will require the university to fully take onboard the report’s recommendations to avoid falling alongside other institutions in not achieving adequate reparations.
“The David Hume Tower” by oosp is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.