The Jason Arday story was never going to be just about him. That’s a shame

Well, it never is. And yes, the focus should be on the institutional failure, not just the individual. Media organizations and commentators need to be more careful, both those on the left defending and those on the right criticizing:

…Black scholars know how a white scholar’s error tends to remain a story about that individual, while a Black scholar’s error often becomes a collective indictment, used to question Black presence in elite institutions more broadly. For some Black scholars, that generalization is part of a co-ordinated political campaign rooted in the belief that Black people do not belong there. Accountability therefore cannot stop with Mr. Arday. Cambridge must answer for its appointment, oversight and response; media organizations and commentators must answer for how allegations and speculation are framed and amplified; and political actors who extend one case to Black scholars collectively must answer for the wider harm they help produce. 

If they fail to do so, there will be lasting damage, because one controversy can easily harden into a presumption about who belongs in the academy.

Malinda S. Smith is a professor of political science at the University of Calgary. Debra Thompson is an associate professor of political science and Canada Research Chair in Racial Inequality in Democratic Societies at McGill University.

Source: The Jason Arday story was never going to be just about him. That’s a shame