The Jason Arday affair must not spell the end for diversity. Here’s how – and why – we should defend it | Joseph Harker
The scandal has given succour to the same old rightwing attacks on D&I, but companies that do it properly raise standards rather than lowering them
The scandal has given succour to the same old rightwing attacks on D&I, but companies that do it properly raise standards rather than lowering them This has not been a good fortnight for the concept of diversity and inclusion. The fallout from the Jason Arday affair has been an all-out attack, by the rightwing media and political classes, on institutional efforts to reduce inequality.
Arday was the Black academic who, in a fanfare of publicity, had been appointed a professor at Cambridge University in 2023. At the time, British institutions were still struggling to address the widespread issues of systemic racism thrown up by the murder of George Floyd three years earlier.
Joseph Harker is the Guardian’s senior editor, diversity and development Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
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