Ruskin Hall, Oxford, 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 (), 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." 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. During the First World War, some of the two hundred Belgian refugees who came to Oxford were lodged in the college. 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 called the conference the "[one of the] biggest landmarks in British women's history". 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. Ruskin College was a
secular sister-school to and a model for the Roman Catholic-linked
Plater College until Plater's closing in 2005.
2012 relocation A £17-million 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, which was sold to
Exeter College, Oxford. 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
MacColl–
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.
2021 merger In February 2021, the college agreed to merge with
Activate Learning. In May 2021, the College Principal was suspended. In August 2021, it was announced that the college had been acquired by the
University of West London. == Campus and buildings ==