Push to rename La Trobe University due to namesake’s links to ‘genocidal violence’

‘It must be acknowledged that La Trobe was the chief government official in Victoria during a period of genocidal violence,’ the submission says. Photograph: Jeffrey Isaac Greenberg 7+/Alamy

Dozens of staff and students at La Trobe University are pushing for the institution to be renamed due to its namesake’s links to Victoria’s colonial history.

In a submission to the state’s Indigenous truth-telling inquiry, a cohort of 57 staff and students, including professors and lecturers, has proposed the university be renamed due to Charles La Trobe’s role in colonising Victoria. But the university said it had no plans to rename the institution and said the issue had not been raised during consultation for its Indigenous strategy.