In 1987, a college at the University of Cambridge considered offering a prestigious position to a black man in what would be the first appointment of its kind. Not only did the man not have a degree, but he had left school at the age of 13, struggling with dyslexia and – at the time – unable to read or write. That he would later to go on to accumulate 20 honorary doctorates and become a professor of creative writing is only one way, and in my view not the best one, of measuring his talent.

The man was the late, great poet Benjamin Zephaniah. And he had been nothing but transparent about his lack of credentials. In fact it was his background that made him eligible for this fellowship, which was designed to reach out to somebody in the community who didn’t have a degree, to give them the opportunity to have a connection with the university.

Zephaniah had been privately offered the role but a formal offer had not yet been made when it was leaked to the rightwing press. The Sun and the Daily Mail newspapers enjoyed a feeding frenzy at the prospect of a black man – one with locs, no less – becoming a fellow at Cambridge.

“Would you let this man near your daughter?” asked the Sun. “Just what are his qualities which have appealed to Trinity College?” the paper asked. Then, not bothering to hide its starkly racist views, it answered that there were none. No qualities, only problems, listed in order of severity: “He is black. He is a Rastafarian. He has tasted approved schools and Borstals.”

The Sun offered no evidence whatsoever for the implication that Zephaniah was a rapist, as the headline suggested. Apparently none was needed – the audience already understood that a black man from Handsworth, Birmingham, who had “tasted Borstals” could not possibly be an appropriate or safe person to be associated with Cambridge University.

In the years since Zephaniah did not receive the fellowship that should have been his due, Cambridge – like many elite universities – has been mired in actual scandals of rape, nepotism, plagiarism and more. Remember them? You probably don’t, because they barely made the news.

For a period beginning in 2019, Trinity Hall, Cambridge, was embroiled in controversy after it emerged........

© The Guardian