Cambridge about-turn on white victims of racism

A CAMBRIDGE college has amended its guidance following accusations that it implied white people could not be victims of racism.

As part of an anti-discrimination drive, Downing College published advice on how to report incidences of racism and “micro-aggressions”. But it prompted a backlash from dons who feared the guidance would lead to a “culture of fear” that is “antithetical to free speech”.

The college counts the actor John Cleese and the illustrator Quentin Blake among its alumni.

The guidance defined racism as “an ideology and a set of practices based on ideas of inherited white ‘racial’ superiority that normalises control, domination and exclusion over people of colour, while legitimating privilege and oppression”.

‘Our guidance makes clear all forms of discrimination based on racial difference are unacceptable’

Academics pointed out that the definition is itself racist, because it implies it is impossible for anyone who is white – including Jewish, Polish and Irish people – to be a victim of racism.

The college has now changed the definition, and says it is “an ideology and a set of practices based on ideas of racial superiority that normalise control, domination and exclusion on the basis of racial difference, while legitimating privilege and oppression”.

Dr Arif Ahmed, a philosophy lecturer at the university, said it was “important that the definition is about race rather than about colour” while another academic said the change was the “common sense thing to do”.

Toby Young, general secretary of the Free Speech Union, which wrote to Downing to raise concerns over the guidance, said he welcomed the changes. “The college shouldn’t be encouraging students to complain to the authorities just because someone says something they find offensive, provided it’s not unlawful,” he said.

Alan Bookbinder, Master of Downing College, said yesterday: “Our guidance makes clear that all forms of discrimination based on racial difference – in colour, nationality or ethnic or national origin – are unacceptable at Downing.”

Earlier this year, Prof Stephen Toope, Cambridge University’s vice-chancellor, issued an apology over the publication of a “micro-aggressions” list.