William Gladstone: Liverpool students rename hall after anti-racism activist

Students have voted to rename a university building after an anti-racism activist instead of former prime minister William Gladstone.

The University of Liverpool agreed to rename Gladstone Hall in June following a campaign by students, due to his links with the slave trade.

The halls of residence will be named after Dorothy Kuya, who was Liverpool's first community relations officer.

She helped establish the city's International Slavery Museum in 2007.

Ms Kuya, who was born in Liverpool and died in 2013, was a "tireless campaigner for racial equality", the university said.

A plaque will be in place before the new academic year listing Ms Kuya's achievements and the history of the hall-naming process.

Gladstone spoke out against abolition in Parliament because his family had slaves on plantations in the 1800s.

Students campaigned for the name change following Black Lives Matter protests in the city in response to the death of American George Floyd and the tearing down of a statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol.

The Guild of Students had campaigned over the issue for several years, arguing that the university should not be honouring people who benefited from slavery.

More than 4,000 students took part in a poll which chose Ms Kuya.

Other people shortlisted were student Anthony Walker who was the victim of a racist murder in 2005, the first black female professional footballer Emma Clarke and John Archer, the first black mayor in London.

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