<p>While it is important to recognize and understand the origin of things, to carry on outdated boycotts of modern organizations based on the sins of their founders in centuries past is pointless.</p>
<p>To begin with, Rhodes is hardly alone in being originally funded by money from unsavory sources. Brown University was founded with money from the trans-Atlantic triangle slave trade. And most of the rest of the Ivy schools have ties to slavery to one degree or another as well. The Rutgers family amassed their fortune in large part by the exploitation of black slaves and white tenants on their land holdings. Leland Stanford was a rapacious businessman who was one of the infamous California “Robber Barons.” And Duke Univ. was founded with millions of nicotine-stained dollars from the tobacco business. Many of the Founding Fathers of the US owned and bought and sold slaves. The list goes on and on. Should Pres. Obama refuse to live in the White House because it was constructed using slave labor? Get real.</p>