We are writing in light of the horrendous news of Professor Jason Arday’s death after weeks of racist bullying by the media and right-wing forces. It is important to recognise where this began: Arday was subject to a campaign of hatred led by the self-described “race realist” Nathan Cofnas, who had been dismissed from Emmanuel College Cambridge after many student complaints over his eugenicist, white supremacist views. Cofnas was platformed again and again by centre right media organisations, but over the past few weeks we have seen media outlets across the spectrum join in to amplify and encourage further analysis and inspection of Arday’s professional and personal life. This continued even after Arday’s resignation and in spite of a statement released by one of the world’s leading autism experts highlighting safeguarding issues.
What should be clear to all of us, working and learning inside an academic institution, is that the accusations levelled at Arday did not in any way warrant the media frenzy and racist bullying we all witnessed.
As a branch, we need to confront the wider issues underpinning the relentless pursuit of Jason Arday: this is a highly visible manifestation of pervasive white supremacy that has and does impact people of colour in multiple ways, including our members and students.
We know from our members that university staff of colour are often held to a different standard to white peers. Achievements and contributions can be overlooked and taken for granted, while any perceived misstep, however minor, is much more readily noticed and amplified. Staff of colour are expected to continually prove their legitimacy in ways that others simply are not. There is a presumption that when a person of colour excels or exceeds expectations, their success is somehow more open to question, as though they could not simply have earned it. These patterns are compounded for members who are multiply-marginalised due to disability, neurodivergence, gender or sexuality. When members of our branch tell us that they are routinely overlooked, even when they have accomplished more, contributed more or had greater impact than their white counterparts, it falls to all of us to address the unequal standards and institutional cultures that make situations like this possible.
Perhaps in Arday’s case, the fact that he was drawing attention to the racist double standards in academia contributed to the ferocious desire to discredit and eject him from what he called its “institutionally racist and inequitable terrain” (Arday, 2019, 81). He went on to say,
“This context becomes further exacerbated particularly when considering the lofty, egalitarian ideals often espoused by universities (Arday, 2020; Shilliam, 2015). These ideals often become contradicted as universities continue to be complicit, perhaps more than other institutions within British society in maintaining and sustaining racial inequality (Arday, 2019, 81)”
Jason Arday was a kind, gentle and generous man who contributed hugely to the sociology of education and who was an inspiration to those who knew him, including some of our members here in Cardiff. His students have put together this website about who he really was.
There is an urgent need for action, and every member of the branch has a role to play. It is not an option to sit back and criticise the media, or to see this as a distant incident that is separate to our working lives in Cardiff. In Cardiff, we have seen the removal of departmental equalities responsibilities from the new workload model – at a time when we should be doing more, not less, to highlight and address injustices in our institutional processes.
As a branch we have the potential power to change our institution, but only if we unite and commit to collectively reshaping the status quo. The circumstances of Jason Arday’s institutional murder is especially horrendous for racially minoritised and neurodivergent members, but they do not face this alone.
Actions to support Jason Arday’s family and call for a public enquiry:
- Fundraising page for Arday’s family
- Add your name to the Good Law Project’s call for a public enquiry:
Resources for members of colour
Here are some resources for staff and students of colour (with thanks to Dr Ahmed Raza Memon and Keithley Wilkinson):
- The Wales Hate Support Centre: provides 24/7 support to victims and witnesses of hate. They are separate to the police and can be contacted at: 0300 30 31 982 or hate.crimewales@victimsupport.org.uk.
- The Empowerment Group: provides 1:1 online culturally appropriate therapy for people of Black African and Caribbean heritage free of charge.
- Diverse Cymru: offers support, services and advice to Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people throughout Wales who are affected by mental ill health.
- Protect Black Women: provides a support system for Black women in the UK facing racial trauma, misogynoir, discrimination and adversity, including sponsored therapeutic support.
- Radical Therapist Network: Community Support Circles (online) open to all people of the global majority, Muslims, migrants and asylum seekers.
Resources for white members to better understand the structures of white supremacy and how to work towards active anti-racist allyship:
As ever, our branch activists are overstretched and fighting on many fronts. If you have any time or energy at all to get involved in anti-racism organising, please get in touch on ucu@cardiff.ac.uk or email the branch officers directly.
In solidarity,
Cardiff UCU