Oxford University, for centuries a bastion of Western thought and learning, is encountering some resistance as it goes batty over racism real and imagined.
Undergrads there are being told that simply rejecting racism “isn’t good enough” and they must become activists on the issue, a report at DailyMail.com says.
A workshop at St. Hugh’s College was representative of a wave of anti-racism training at Oxford, which critics say does not work.
Workshop attendees were shown presentations inlcuding a slide with the headings: “Be an anti-racist” and “Are you racist? ‘No’ isn’t a good enough answer.”
Some slides appeared to have some problems with grammar and spelling, which may well be racist concepts:
“We need to… stop thinking that injustice going on in the world isn’t to an extent are [sic] fault,” it read, adding: “Stop being a non-racist and start being an anti-racist.”
Another slide called for a “commitment to action,” asking, “What is your individual contribution/commitment/pledge to tackle inequality and racism?”
In 2020 an official report found strong evidence “that such training has no sustained impact on behavior and may even be counter-productive,” leading many government departments to scrap it.
Among St Hugh’s notable grads are Theresa May, Amal Clooney and Myanmar’s detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
One member of the college said of the workshop: “I have been let down on several fronts since I’ve been here. Worst of all is the consistent emphasis of how “racist” our institution is… it is a colossal waste of time and money and does nothing but prove that Oxford is increasingly out of touch with the real world. I have seen no inkling of racism since I have been here.”
