Rhodes Scholar

A Rhodes Scholar is a holder of a Rhodes Scholarship at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. The scholarships are awarded by the Rhodes Trust, endowed by the will of the imperialist statesman Cecil Rhodes and founded in 1902, and originally open to scholars from the British Empire, the United States and Germany. Scholars are eligible to study any postgraduate degree at Oxford (excluding MBA). Since the foundation of the trust, more than 7,000 Rhodes Scholars have attended Oxford.

The scholarship was expressly established to benefit scholar-athletes who excelled in both academics and athletics. Over time, the award has been increasingly given to liberal recipients lacking achievement in either athletics or academics. For example, scholarship recipient Bill Clinton had no athletic achievement and refused to release his suspect academic record either. He took the scholarship money for attending Oxford but could not earn a degree there.

Well-known Rhodes Scholars

• Wesley Clark, US general
• Bill Clinton, US President
• J.W. Fulbright, founder of the Fulbright Scholarships
• Bob Hawke, Australian Prime Minister
• Edwin Hubble, astronomer
• Kris Kristofferson, songwriter and actor
• Dom Mintoff, Maltese Prime Minister
• Dean Rusk, US Secretary of State
• Naomi Wolf, feminist author

Further Information

http://www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/history.htm