Dame Barbara Stocking is to remain as president of Cambridge college despite Oxfam scandal

Former Oxfam chief executive Barbara Stocking will remain as president of a Cambridge college – despite students calling for her removal after a damning Charity Commission report.

Dame Barbara, 67, is president of the all-girls’ Murray Edwards College.

She was accused by the commission of mismanagement of Oxfam’s response to the sexual exploitation of women in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.

The college’s governing body met yesterday but allowed her to remain as president. It said: ‘The governing body took into very serious consideration the findings and recommendations from the Charity Commission’s report.

‘Under Dame Barbara’s leadership, processes in a wide variety of areas have been introduced in college, and actions have been taken to support all members of the college – from students and recent graduates to fellows and staff – in their respective careers.

‘Dame Barbara continues to work tirelessly on behalf of Murray Edwards College and will remain as president.’ Dame Barbara was appointed as president to the college – whose alumni include Sue Perkins and Claudia Winkleman – in March 2013 after she left Oxfam.

She is thought to earn between £70,000 and £80,000 and lives in a £2 million home on college property.

Under Dame Barbara’s leadership, Oxfam was accused of failing to follow up and report allegations of girls as young as 12 being ‘used and beaten’ by aid workers.

She also tried to protect the charity’s reputation by arranging a ‘dignified’ exit for a senior figure caught using vulnerable prostitutes, the review said.

Last year, Dame Barbara stood aside from her post for six weeks after students expressed their outrage at the scandal and called for her removal. Dame Barbara said she was ‘very sorry if students at Murray Edwards feel that I was at all dismissive about sexual exploitation in Haiti’.