Stormzy Claims Oxford University Rejected Scholarship Proposal for Black Students, Oxford Issues Denial

In August, Stormzy announced that he would fund two scholarships for black students to attend Cambridge, the prestigious British university that came under fire this past June for lack of diversity in its admissions. Last night, during an event at the Barbican in London, the grime rapper stated that he had actually first approached Oxford University about funding scholarships for black students there, but “they didn’t want to get involved.”

Now, Oxford has responded to those claims with a denial, as BBC News reports. “Oxford University is committed to widening access and participation for all students from under-represented backgrounds,” the institution said in a statement. “We admire Stormzy's commitment to inspire and support black students to succeed in higher education. We have not received or turned down any offer or proposal to fund undergraduate scholarships at Oxford. We have contacted Stormzy's representatives today to clarify we would welcome the opportunity to work together on inspiring students from African-Caribbean heritage to study at Oxford.” Find a series of tweets on the situation from the university below.

According to the Guardian, Oxford did acknowledge “Stormzy had been in contact but said that at the time it was unclear what the proposal was.”