Editing Ruskin College (section)

== History ==
[[File:Ruskin-Hall-students.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Part of the 1901 class of students at Ruskin Hall, Oxford (Ruskin College)]]

Ruskin Hall, Oxford,<ref name=Edwards>"Ruskin Hall, Oxford: The People's University" in Joseph Edwards (ed.), ''The Reformer's Year Book: 1902.'' Glasgow: Joseph Edwards, 1902; p. 71.</ref> was established in 1899 to provide education for working-class men who could not access university. It was founded by Americans [[Charles A. Beard]] and [[Walter Vrooman]], both of whom had studied at the University of Oxford. Vrooman's wife, Amne ({{nee|Grafflin}}), an heiress, financially supported the foundation of the college.

The school was envisioned as a mechanism by which "working-class reformers" could "educate themselves efficiently at nominal cost."<ref name=Edwards /> Tuition, lodging, and board was priced at 12s 6d (£0.625) per week, with a parallel [[distance education|correspondence course]] alternatively offered for 1 shilling (£0.05) per week plus a 1 shilling entrance fee.<ref name=Edwards /> Courses were offered in [[political economy]], sociology, the history of the labour movement, principles of politics, English literature, [[psychology]], and other related aspects of the social sciences.<ref name=Edwards />

The school was administered by a General Council, which included elected representatives from the Parliamentary Committee of the [[Trades Union Congress]] and the Central Board of the [[Co-operatives UK|Cooperative Union]].<ref name=Edwards /> An auxiliary organisation of supporters of the school was launched in 1901, the Ruskin Hall Educational League, which arranged conferences and public lectures in conjunction with the activities of the school.<ref name=Edwards />

=== 20th century ===
In October 1907 [[Arthur Smith (historian)|Arthur Smith]] of Balliol College paid a visit to Ruskin College on behalf of some of his university colleagues. He broached the idea of bringing Ruskin closer to the University, suggesting that this would involve the University providing funds for the College, and allowing Ruskin students to join the University.The majority of Ruskin students were suspicious that the proposal would lead to the erosion of the college's independence. Following a visit from [[Lord Curzon]], the proposal was repeated and [[Dennis Hird]], a lecturer in [[Sociology]] and [[Logic]] responded that as far as the students were concerned Ruskin College was irrevocably part of the [[Labour movement]].<ref name="BQE">{{cite book |title=The Burning Question of Education :being an account of Ruskin College dispute, its cause and consequences / |date=1908 |publisher=[[Plebs League]] |location=Oxford |edition=2nd. |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015073446190;view=1up;seq=13 |accessdate=10 November 2018}}</ref>

In 1908, a group of Ruskin students, dissatisfied with its education policy which they viewed as too pro-establishment and imbued with elements of "social control", formed the [[Plebs' League]]. The students' revolt was supported by the Principal, Dennis Hird, and following his dismissal the students took strike action, refusing to attend lectures.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.pstalker.com/echo/sk_ruskin.html |title=Jericho Echo<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=24 January 2008 |archive-date=5 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080105094514/http://www.pstalker.com/echo/sk_ruskin.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.unionhistory.info/timeline/Tl_Display.php?irn=100170 |title=TUC {{!}} History Online<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=24 January 2008 |archive-date=22 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081022121845/http://www.unionhistory.info/timeline/Tl_Display.php?irn=100170 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=EP19090515.2.69 "Students Revolt. Novel Situation at Ruskin College"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005035734/http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=EP19090515.2.69 |date=5 October 2012 }}, ''New Zealand Evening Post'', Volume LXXVII, Issue 114, 15 May 1909, p. 6.</ref>

During the First World War, some of the two hundred Belgian refugees who came to Oxford were lodged in the college.<ref>{{Cite book|title = History of the University of Oxford: Volume VIII: The Twentieth Century – Oxford Scholarship| year=1994 |url = http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198229742.001.0001/acprof-9780198229742|doi = 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198229742.001.0001| isbn=978-0-19-822974-2 |access-date = 10 November 2015|archive-date = 17 November 2015|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151117073638/http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198229742.001.0001/acprof-9780198229742|url-status = live| editor-last1=Harrison | editor-first1=Brian }}</ref>

In 1970 Ruskin College hosted the UK's first [[National Women's Liberation Conference]]. The conference ran from 27 February to 1 March with between 500 and 600 people attending. ''[[The Guardian]]'' newspaper called the conference the "biggest landmarks in British women's history".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Cochrane|first=Kira|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/feb/26/forty-years-womens-liberation|title=Forty years of women's liberation|date=2010-02-26|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-03-29|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077|archive-date=18 June 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130618023830/http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/feb/26/forty-years-womens-liberation|url-status=live}}</ref> The conference organisers included Ruskin students Arielle Aberson and Sally Alexander, and historian [[Sheila Rowbotham]]. The organisers were associated with the [[History Workshop]] seminars held at the college and the conference was initially intended to focus on women's history.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ruskin.ac.uk/blog/on-this-day-at-ruskin-college-national-womens-liberation-conference/|title=On This Day at Ruskin: National Women's Liberation Conference|website=Ruskin College Oxford|language=en|access-date=2020-03-29|archive-date=17 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200317222908/https://www.ruskin.ac.uk/blog/on-this-day-at-ruskin-college-national-womens-liberation-conference/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Ruskin College was a [[Secularism|secular]] sister-school to and a model for the Roman Catholic-linked [[Plater College]] until Plater's closing in 2005.<ref>Philpot, Terry, [http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=200278&sectioncode=26 "No second chance for giver of fresh starts"], ''Times Higher Education'', 9 December 2005.</ref>

=== 2012 relocation ===
A £17m redevelopment programme of the college's Old Headington site was completed in 2012, and the headquarters of the college moved there from the more central original site in [[Walton Street, Oxford|Walton Street]] which was sold to [[Exeter College, Oxford]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121214232328/http://publichistorycommons.org/the-ruskin-college-records-destroying-a-radical-past/ The Ruskin College records: Destroying a radical past]</ref> The redeveloped site has a new academic building incorporating an expanded library, named the Callaghan Library in honour of former Labour Prime Minister, [[James Callaghan]], who made a major education speech at Ruskin in 1976. The [[Ewan MacColl|MacColl]] / [[Peggy Seeger|Seeger]] archive has a dedicated room within the new library. All other buildings on the site have been refurbished, the grounds have been improved and the walled garden, with its listed '[[crinkle crankle wall]]' has been brought back into use by local volunteers. A cafeteria is open to the public.

Around this time, parts of the college's archives were controversially destroyed. The college asserted that it was legally required to dispose of the records because they contained [[personally identifying information]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2012-10-04|title=Whose Archive? Whose History? Destruction of Archives at Ruskin College, Oxford|url=https://www.historyworkshop.org.uk/whose-archive-whose-history-destruction-of-archives-at-ruskin-college-oxford/|access-date=2021-03-29|website=History Workshop|archive-date=28 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210628191647/https://www.historyworkshop.org.uk/whose-archive-whose-history-destruction-of-archives-at-ruskin-college-oxford/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=2012-11-30|title=Ruskin College, Oxford criticised for destroying archive|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-20559778|access-date=2021-03-29|archive-date=2 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210702082505/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-20559778|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|author=Guardian Staff|date=2012-10-29|title=Letters: Let the records show the destruction of Ruskin College archive|url=http://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/oct/29/records-destruction-ruskin-college|access-date=2021-03-29|website=The Guardian|archive-date=4 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204030108/https://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/oct/29/records-destruction-ruskin-college|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== 2021 merger ===
In February 2021 the college agreed to merge with [[Activate Learning]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Whieldon |first=Fraser |date=26 February 2021 |title=College facing 'uncertain future' agrees merger partner |url=https://feweek.co.uk/2021/02/26/college-facing-uncertain-future-agrees-merger-partner/ |work=FE Week |location= |access-date=15 June 2021 |archive-date=16 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210616043357/https://feweek.co.uk/2021/02/26/college-facing-uncertain-future-agrees-merger-partner/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In May 2021 the College Principal was suspended.<ref>{{cite news |last=Whieldon |first=Fraser |date=24 May 2021 |title=College suspends principal just two months before merger |url=https://feweek.co.uk/2021/05/24/college-suspends-principal-just-two-months-before-merger/ |work=FE Week |location= |access-date=15 June 2021 |archive-date=16 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210616043204/https://feweek.co.uk/2021/05/24/college-suspends-principal-just-two-months-before-merger/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In August 2021 it was announced that the college had been acquired by the [[University of West London]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Rce |first=Liam |date=3 August 2021 |title=Oxford's Ruskin College joins University of West London |url=https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/19486769.oxfords-ruskin-college-joins-university-west-london/ |work=[[Oxford Mail]] |location= |access-date=3 August 2021 |archive-date=3 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803083420/https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/19486769.oxfords-ruskin-college-joins-university-west-london/ |url-status=live }}</ref>