Imperial History Dialogue

President’s Board have committed to the following:  

• We will find new ways to mark the impact and contributions of brilliant but undercelebrated Imperial people like Professor Abdus Salam, Dr Margaret Fishenden, and Dr Narinder Singh Kapany. This is long overdue, and we will continue to seek out new figures deserving of greater celebration and ways to make their contributions more widely known. 
• We will consider a joint name for the Huxley Building, with the aim of adding the name of a pathbreaking scientist from a Black, Asian or other minority ethnic background. 
• The name and bust of Huxley will be retained, but it will be clearly put into a fuller context in order to provide everyone with a more complete understanding of Huxley’s complex character and achievements as well as his flaws, including his racially prejudiced writings.  
• A similar approach will be adopted for the Beit Building and statue, with a focus on providing a fuller understanding of the Beit brothers’ impact in southern Africa. The College will consult with students and explore whether to add an African scientist to the building’s name. 
• Contextualising narrative will also be developed for any co-named person. 

We will find new, prominent ways of ensuring that the complexities of key figures are fully understood alongside the College’s values. This will include acknowledging both their positive contributions to science and to Imperial in parallel with the ways in which they have espoused or entrenched views that are in conflict with our values by harming progress towards racial equality and justice.

A history working group, made up of a subgroup of President’s Board, Consuls, and staff and student representatives, has been established to explore options take forward agreed-upon actions. The working group will report back to President’s Board in April. 

Terms of Reference

1. To implement President’s Board’s agreed-upon actions in response to the History Group report and advise President’s Board on how the College will acknowledge and contextualise its history. 
2. To work with the community to find new ways to mark the impact and contributions of brilliant but undercelebrated people from the College’s past. 
3. To explore new, prominent ways to ambitiously contextualise the College’s history in relation to the building names and statues of Beit and Huxley, including consideration of dual naming. 
4. To establish new ways for the Imperial community to continue to expose, engage with and learn from its history. 

Membership 

Co-Chairs 

Harbhajan Brar, Director of HR 
Francisco Veloso, Dean of the Imperial College Business School  

Members 

Maggie Dallman, Vice President (International), Associate Provost (Academic Partnerships) 
Sarah Essilfie-Quaye, FoM Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Research Fellow and Co-Chair of Imperial As One
Richard Jardine, Senior Consul and Professor of Geomechanics 
Richard Martin, Director of Academic Services  
Hayley Wong, Imperial College Union President
Jane Neary, Director of Campus Services 
Nilay Shah, Professor of Process Systems Engineering 

Support 

Kathryn Charlesworth Operations and Projects Officer 
Deborah Evanson, Press and Communications Manager 

President’s Board acknowledge the value in sharing the dialogue contributions with the community. These have been published as annonymised versions to protect those who shared their views in confidence. 

• History Dialogue Written Submissions
• Facilitated Discussions Report
• History Dialogue Forum Contributions