Ku Klux Klan hood placed on statue in speech protest

Protesters against an upcoming speaking event with an academic who accused the late Cambridge professor Jason Arday of plagiarism have placed a Ku Klux Klan hood on a controversial statue of the 19th Century colonialist Cecil Rhodes.

Nathan Cofnas, a self-defined "race realist" who argues genes play a "non-trivial role" in intelligence differences between racial groups, is due to speak at an event at Oriel College in Oxford later this month.

Objecting to the event, the campaign group Led By Donkeys placed a white Ku Klux Klan hood and a sign reading "Racists Welcome Here" on the Rhodes statue at Oriel College on Thursday morning.

In response to the protest, the college said it was "committed to upholding freedom of speech within the law and has a statutory duty to do so".

"This includes the freedom to express views that many find deeply offensive," it said.

"We are also committed to promoting inclusion and maintaining an environment that is free from all forms of discrimination and harassment, including racial discrimination."

It added that permitting the event "does not imply endorsement by the college of the views of its speakers".

Confas is due to speak at an event titled "An evening with Nathan Cofnas: Is DEI (diversity, equality and inclusion) undermining higher education?" at Oriel College's Harris lecture hall on 17 November.

It has been organised by Oxon Universities' Reform Society. The society, which is associated with Reform UK, has been contacted for comment.

It comes just months after Cofnas was suspended from his post at Ghent University, after it launched an investigation into him "for discriminating against" Jason Arday. He was later handed a three-month teaching ban.

Responding to the outcome in a post on X, Cofnas said he was grateful to Ghent's rector, Petra De Sutter, "for allowing me to stay".

Arday, who became Cambridge's youngest black professor in 2023, was found dead in Battersea on 14 August, having resigned as a professor of sociology of education the week prior.

The 41-year-old's death followed weeks of media coverage over plagiarism allegations and questions about his achievements. He denied the claims.

Among his accusers were Cofnas, who claimed to have put Arday's work through plagiarism detection software that found "many passages are lifted with minimal editing, sometimes retaining copy-editing mistakes from the original source".

Cofnas also noted that a retired professor had previously raised concerns about Arday's subsequent academic articles, leading to two journals issuing correction notes.

Two years earlier, Confas' own position at a Cambridge college was terminated after backlash to his view that, under a true meritocracy, black people would "disappear from almost all high-profile positions outside of sports and entertainment".

The statue stunt comes after dozens of academics and celebrities urged Oriel to cancel the Confas event last month.

Signatories including MPs Diane Abbott and Jeremy Corbyn and musician Beverly Knight backed the letter by Oxford Students' Coalition against Racism.

"We value academic freedom," the letter said.

"But free speech does not extinguish duties under the Equality Act 2010, including the Public Sector Equality Duty. Nor does it remove responsibility for the safety and welfare of Black students and staff."

Thursday's protest was not the first to centre around Oriel's statue of Cecil Rhodes, with Black Lives Matters protesters gathering in 2020 to demand its removal.

Campaigners at the time said Rhodes, a 19th Century businessman and politician in southern Africa, represented white supremacy and is steeped in colonialism and racism.

In 2021, Oriel confirmed it would not remove the statue, highlighting costs and "complex" planning processes as reasons for the decision.

The BBC has contacted the University of Oxford for a comment.