Unpicking arguments against implementing anti-racism initiatives in Higher Education
The video exploring criticisms of Advance HE tapped into enduring rhetorics and false equivalencies around diversity, inclusion and anti-racism initiatives in Higher Education. James Orr, UK Chairman of National Conservatism, presents this video on behalf of right-leaning newspaper The Telegraph (1) and criticises the implementation of Diversity and Race charters from Advance HE at Cambridge University and perpetuates a wilful lack of nuance around the positive impact of policy change:
Positioning “wokeness” and inclusivity as an antithesis to free speech and academic freedom
Being ‘woke’ is typically used as a right-leaning dog whistle to negatively stereotype the adoption of inclusive and anti-racist ideas and policies as radical leftism, despite its definition as simply being “a state of being aware, especially of social problems such as racism and inequality” (Cambridge Dictionary, 2025). Orr argues that the adoption of Advance HE’s policies in regard to diversity and inclusion threatens free speech and academic freedom despite that fact that efforts to (for example) decolonise the curriculum “complement freedom of speech, as they enhance the voice and input of a more diverse range of staff and students.” (Advance HE in Orr, 2023).
Criticising anti-racist initiatives as “prizing ideology over excellence” (Orr, 2023)
Orr’s above statement reveals exactly why implicit bias and anti-racist policies need to be better embedded into educational institutions. At no point in the video does Orr evidence that the implementation of anti-racist initiatives has a negative impact on the ‘excellence’ of academic outputs. The belief that promoting inclusivity within Higher Education compromises academic excellence perpetuates a rarified notion of what are considered valid knowledges, perspectives and narratives.
Lack of data supporting arguments for implicit bias and anti-racist training
Several of the participants of the video pointed to how implicit bias and anti-racism training is not effective and that the data supports this; the only data explicitly mentioned was in relation to low numbers of “formal reports of racism to HR”. There is much to deconstruct here in terms of why this data is not an appropriate basis for determining whether anti-racist or implicit bias training; for one, complaints to departments such as HR places the onus and burden upon marginalised and minority groups to navigate (often complex and bureaucratic) reporting processes . In contrast, the disaggregated data exposing the UAL attainment gap points towards systemic racism that negatively impacts students of colour. Systemic problems need systemic solutions and anti-racism and implicit bias training can be a tool with which to dismantle.
What is worth exploring is how implicit bias and anti-racism initiatives are implemented; many of us in group conversations have raised concerns with how UAL delivers their mandatory anti-racism staff training (as an online module that amounts to a tick box exercise). This signals a need not to dismiss anti-racism initiatives outright, but to critically evaluate their delivery, ensure meaningful engagement, and embed them more holistically across institutional practices (Ahmed, 2012) . When anti-racist work is reduced to performative measures, its transformative potential is undermined—fueling scepticism from critics like Orr and weakening institutional commitments to equity.
Footnotes
(1). The positionality of James Orr and The Telegraph is not made explicit in the video and nor are their own ideological positions (as politically conservative and right-leaning).
Bibliography
Ahmed, S. (2012) On being included: Racism and diversity in Institutional Life. London: Duke University Press.
‘Cambridge Dictionary’ (Date not identified) Available at: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/woke (Accessed: 24th June 2024)
Orr, J. (2022) ‘Revealed: The charity turning UK universities woke’. The Telegraph [Online]. Youtube. 5 August. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRM6vOPTjuU (Accessed: 24th June 2025)
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