Oxford University has responded to calls to revoke Ntokozo Qwabe\u2019s Rhodes scholarship following a controversial incident he was involved in at a cafe in Cape Town.<\/p>\n
A petition, signed by at least 40,000 people, was delivered to the vice-chancellor of Oxford University,\u00a0Louise Richardson, to revoke Ntokozo Qwabe\u2019s Rhodes scholarship, ‘or at the very least, initiate disciplinary action for his recent cowardly and disrespectful behaviour displayed towards a working class female citizen in a Cape Town cafe’.<\/p>\n
Qwabe bragged last week on Facebook about the way he treated waitress, Ashleigh Schultz, at a cafe in Observatory, Cape Town.<\/p>\n
Schultz was reportedly reduced to tears after Qwabe\u2019s group of friends wrote on the bill: \u201cWe will give tip when you return land.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the incident, two separate online campaigns were initiated to raise money for the waitress, purportedly in a show of solidarity against racism and bullying. Both campaigns generated a substantial amount for Schultz, approaching R150,000.<\/p>\n
Qwabe\u00a0is the co-founder of Rhodes Must Fall In Oxford \u2013 \u201can organisation determined to decolonise the space, the curriculum, and the institutional memory at, and to fight inter-sectional oppression within, Oxford\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n He is\u00a0a former law student at KwaZulu-Natal, and received the Rhodes Scholarship to further his studies at England\u2019s Oxford University, in 2013.<\/p>\n A spokesman for Oxford told TimesLive<\/a> that the university encouraged freedom of speech, however offensive it might be.<\/p>\n “Our duty of care to all members of the university means we do not discuss individuals. Oxford is a place where non-violent speech, however objectionable, can be expressed and challenged. Our students may voice opinions which others believe to be misguided or which they find offensive. They have a right to do this, but in exercising it we expect them to respect other people and the law.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n TimesLive reported that a counter online petition to keep the student at Oxford was also launched. It read: “The university is a place where views coalesce and it cannot be allowed to exclude people based on the whim of those who feel superior than others. His not tipping was a choice and daily black Africans experience the rejection felt by that young white woman and he stood up for them.”<\/em><\/p>\n Qwabe however, urged his supporters not to sign the petition. “Leave whiteness to its hysterical ways,” he said.<\/p>\n Petition to revoke waitress bully\u2019s Oxford scholarship hits 35,000 signatures<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Rhodes Must Fall leader dares whites to have him expelled from Oxford<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n New funding campaign raises a small fortune for bullied waitress<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nMore on Ntokozo Qwabe<\/h3>\n