Student Union Call For De Montfort University To Be Renamed …

[naomi24]

…. because of links to historical anti-Semitism. De Montfort University is named after Simon De Montfort, a 13th knight known as the father of democracy.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-54995643

I wonder how many of them supported Jeremy Corbyn and his anti-Semitic cronies? Perhaps they're so busy trumpeting 'woke' that they completely missed the connection.

[Peter Pedant]

I wonder how many know or care who simon de m was

he is the one in the civil war 1265 ( foo I have a long memory I have) who forced bad King Henry to call reps from all the shires to his council aka Parlement

Killed at the battle of evesham - damn I thought it was Lewes which I know much more about. Jews ejected 1295 - easy way of solving a debt crisis but can only be done once. but as it is 30 y after his death can hardly be called causative

[Peter Pedant]

damn Jackay !
you were there before me
I should as ever have read your posts

[ichkeria]

It is a monumentally ridiculous idea.
No need to bring Corbyn and sweatshops into it.
Nor the reminder that "parliamentary democracy" in England took a bit of a hammering from some a year ago :-)

[tomus42]

Ridiculous. If you want to erase everything that isn't at some point in history associated with racism / anti-semitism / slavery / misogyny / [insert woke target here]...there isn't going to be an awful lot left.

In fact if they look hard enough they'll probably find they have to rename or even abolish the city of Leicester itself.

[andy-hughes]

As I have said before, the joy of being a student is having all necessitities taken care of so you can focus your planet-sized intellect on things that actually don;t matter, but because you are a teenager, they mean the absoluter world to you.

With a complete absence of lif experience, you see the world entirely in a single dimension, you know nothing of history, of grey areas, of compromises and evolutions, and how we got to here from where we were there.

That allows you the luxury of taking centuries of socio-eccomic history and reducing them to one person's behaviour, and wanting a seismic change to occur because of your view, and your view alone.

Time and experience will let youo blush at how arrogant and yet simplistic you were back then, with your 'change the world' theories based on nothing but your own over-developed sense of self-importance.

But for now, make your protest, and hopefully the adults who actually facilitate your platform to make your pointless noise, based on knowing nothing and understanding less, will ignore you, and stop allowing meaningless changes to be made to salve juvenile consciences.

[shoota]

Were I the dean of De M Uni my answer would be succinct and Anglo Saxon...

[david small]

These stupido twonks need a big wet slapping.

[TrevorThePug]

What does it matter? It was only called DeMontfort from the mid-1990s and before that it was known as the City of Leicester Polytechnic for decades, so hardly an historic association.

They can change the name every 30 years if they weant. They should just call it Leicester Soar University.

[Old_Geezer]

It matters because of the reason for the call.

[zebo]

Father of democracy? That's clearly why they want it renaming, they're not remotely interested in democracy.

[Jackdaw33]

I distinctly remember going to the De Montfort Hall in Leicester to hear the Red Army Choir. I was based nearby at the time. That was in 1970.

[jourdain2]

All anyone has to do is read 'Ivanhoe' to learn that there was widespread anti-semitism in that time, as others have explained. Complete rubbish - it is the lack of awareness of these self-righteous 'wokes' that is so troubling. Don't they understand anything about life and history? It would seem not and that way lies despair. Better stay alive as long as possible and hope they grow out of it.