[9] At the beginning of 1905, Rhodes moved from cramped quarters at St Andrew's to the Drostdy building, which it bought from the British Government.

This mutually beneficial arrangement continued until the apartheid government decided to disaffiliate Fort Hare from Rhodes.

The Rhodes Senate and Council objected strongly to this, and to the Separate University Education Bill, which they condemned as interference with academic freedom.

Nevertheless, in 1962 an honorary doctorate was conferred on the state president, C. R. Swart, who (as Minister of Justice after 1948) had been responsible for the repression of opposition political organisations.

The award caused the resignation of the chancellor, Sir Basil Schonland, although his reasons were not made public at the time.

During 2008 work began on construction of a new library building at a cost of R85 million, one of the largest infrastructure projects undertaken by the university, and was completed in 2010.

This accounts for approximately 7% of the total awarded nationally in South Africa, a significant proportion given the university's small size.

[18] Three student newspapers, Activate, The Oppidan Press and Cue, have been published daily during the National Arts Festival held in Makhanda every year for several decades.

[21] In academia, Old Rhodian Max Theiler was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research in virology in 1951.

[29][30] In 2015 the university council undertook to determine whether or not the institution should change its name, as well as consider several other ways it could deal with the issues.

[32][33] While the university agreed with critics that "[it] cannot be disputed that Cecil John Rhodes was an arch-imperialist and white supremacist who treated people of this region as sub-human", it also said it had long since distanced itself from the person and had distinguished itself with the name Rhodes University as one of the world's best.