It takes a village to raise a child – a proverb attributed to some African cultures – inspires people who believe in communal responsibility in local and national spheres.

Yet, the most nurturing societies can get swept into a moral panic and brutishly bring down anyone they suspect of wrongdoing. In Uganda, my old homeland, a thief would be chased by a mob, caught, beaten, sometimes to death. It was a human sacrifice, atonement for the sins of the wider community. No one felt guilty. Or sorry. I see similarities between that moralistic mob and what Jason Arday endured week after week and day after day before his death.

The media, academia, social media users and Britons who believe fairness is a defining British value, need to do some honest soul searching.

The Chancellor of Cambridge, Lord Smith voiced his concerns on Monday about the “racist feeding frenzy”. Smith also affirmed his commitment to scholastic integrity, given the plagiarism accusations against Arday. Plagiarism allegations about any academic, “whoever they are”, he said, must be rigorously investigated. All well and good.

But we also need more robust repudiations of those people who are determinedly obstructing equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in higher education. That no doubt began when the first people of colour were admitted into top ranking universities, and it has continued since.

In 1987, Trinity College Cambridge considered offering a prestigious fellowship to the late Benjamin Zephaniah, a radical, self- taught, wonderful, prize-winning wordsmith. Tabloids went crazy. The fellowship never materialized.

Before Arday........

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