Voting on motion titled: Letter to Oriel College and Oxford University on sensitive talks

Letter to Oriel College and Oxford University on sensitive talks

Voting on motion titled: Letter to Oriel College and Oxford University on sensitive talks

Motion date and title:

Letter to Oriel College and Oxford University on sensitive talks

04/11/2026

Proposer name:

Shubh Kumar; signature: Shubh Kumar

Seconder name:

Lily Moseley; signature: Lily Moseley

We note:

The Oxford Reform Society has invited Nathan Cofnas for a talk on Tuesday, Nov. 17th at Oriel College to discuss how Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) negatively influences university hiring practices and the quality of university academia.
Nathan Cofnas openly argues that black people are intellectually inferior to other racial groups due to genetics (a pseudoscience known as biological racism), and was sacked from his post as philosophy fellow at Cambridge University in 2024 after he published a blog post claiming that in a meritocracy “the number of black professors [at Harvard] would approach 0 per cent”. ⁸

We believe:

Nathan Cofnas's views and their potential for harm in the treatment of ethnic minority students and staff means the prospect of his attendance has and likely will have a negative impact on the wellbeing of black students and staff at the University of Oxford and higher education throughout the UK.
The Oxford Reform Society’s invitation of Nathan Cofnas in the wake of Jason Arday’s death and his involvement not only shows a concerning lack of consideration for the situation, but also a lack of sensitivity in thinking of its effect on Oxford students and staff.
With an open letter signed by more than 26,000 people⁷and a city-wide protest planned in response, the scheduled event poses a risk to the safety and welfare of the Oxford community in general and Oriel College students resident near where the event is to take place, in particular.

We propose:

Releasing the below letter addressed to Oriel College and Oxford University.

To Oriel College and University of Oxford,

This letter expresses The Green Templeton College’s Graduate Common Room’s concern regarding the invitation of Dr Nathan Cofnas to Oriel College on 17^th November for a talk titled ‘Is DEI Undermining Higher Education?’. We believe this invitation is harmful and creates a hostile and unwelcoming environment in our communities. Second, we believe this talk is in format insufficient to provide an equal platform for the invited speaker and general audience to engage in a productive exchange. Our requests (underlined below) and rationale in light of this and future such sensitive events are detailed as a set of proactive, reactive, and prospective actions.

Hereafter, ‘sensitive events’ can be defined for example as those likely to cause disruption and offense by questioning protected characteristics or ascribing qualities to those with protected characteristics.

Proactive:

The requests in this section should be taken prior to the confirmation of sensitive events.

Precedent exists of Oxford colleges appreciating academic debate can be considered harassment unless predefined criteria are met. Wolfson College Policy and Procedure on Harassment clause 10 states ‘Vigorous academic debate will not amount to harassment when it is conducted respectfully and without violating the dignity of others or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them’¹. By Wolfson’s criteria, the Dr Cofnas’ talk may amount to harassment as it degrades and humiliates through questioning the place of black individuals in higher education. Oriel should revise its harassment policy to acknowledge academic debate as a potential medium for this. Prior to confirming sensitive events, careful consideration must be taken as to whether these may amount to harassment.

A demonstration is not formally defined under the University of Oxford’s policies on Freedom of Speech² or Code of Conduct³. A talk targeted in nature and highly controversial may be considered a form of demonstration against a view. Where a peaceful demonstrator may declare their stance in the outdoors, a speaker does so in a room; where a speaker accepts rebuttals a peaceful protester converses with oppositionists. A demonstration aims to convey an opinion staged against an ideology, likely to cause friction. Therefore, a talk communicating strong opinions against an ideology and which causes friction should be akin to a demonstration. Given previous comments declaring himself as a ‘race realist’, Dr Cofnas’ talk can be considered a demonstration against the acceptance of black students in higher education. Under University Code of Conduct Section 6 Annex B: Guidance on Demonstrations or Protests, no member shall ‘engage in … degrading, humiliating … or in any harassment, bullying … towards any other person’. The Oxford Reform Society is comprised of students who must abide by this code as well as Oriel College members. Dr Cofnas’ views shared at the proposed talk/demonstration is targeted at black people and would amount to degradation, humiliation, and bullying given the talk is one of content supporting the view ‘the number of black professors would approach zero per cent’ in a pure meritocracy ⁴. Such degrading, bullying rhetoric had coincided with the unfortunate suicide of Prof. Jason Arday.

The University and its institutions should not permit talks shrouded as demonstrations with scrutiny less than what a demonstration in retaliation would experience. For example, a demonstration against black people in higher education would be cancelled within the above remits. Sensitive talks are likely to cause friction and should more explicitly be defined under Annexe B and subject to scrutiny under this.

An appropriate risk assessment should be supplied and liaison within a hosting institution’s students conducted before confirming a sensitive event.

For this instance of Dr Cofnas’ talk, given that a clear risk assessment has not been provided by Oriel College, we request for a clear risk assessment to be publicly shared.

A compassionate argument for extensive deliberation is that institutions at Oxford must recognise that conversations which question the existence or worthiness of its members on nothing more than protected characteristics harbours a hostile and unwelcome environment. University settings must uphold free-speech values, but universities are homes and which students closely identify with; such invitations change institutional image even if they explicitly declare not supporting the views shared and does alienate and offend students.

Reactive:

Given the approval of the Dr Cofnas talk, the requests in this section directly relate to the talk by Dr Cofnas and these should be instated as soon as possible before the talk.

Oriel College’s Code of practise on Freedom of Speech article 4.3 states ‘Wherever possible, they [the speaker] should also be exposed to evidence, questioning and argument…’ ⁵. A talk followed by 10-20 minutes of questions and answers is not appropriate for nuanced discussion. A balanced panel discussion with speakers of equal calibre should be hosted with sufficient time for student questioning. Student questioning should include a debating box or similar, as instated by the Oxford Union following the invitation of speaker Kathleen Stock⁵.

Should a sensitive talk be approved, the risk assessment should consider wider welfare and mental health disruption. The hosting college should circumvent these by financially committing to additional welfare provisions e.g. group discussion, and separate, counteracting talks should this requirement under article 4.3 not be fulfilled from the outset.

Prospective:

The requests in this section relate to accountability to hosting colleges and societies who host sensitive events.

Oxford colleges should have a duty to investigate previous events’ reactions by Oxford societies. Should there had been sensitive events hosted, colleges should actively participate in the organisation / arrangement of the event via the college’s student representatives. This will ensure there is appropriate ownership by the hosting college and accountability for student welfare.

Yours sincerely,

Green Templeton College

Graduate Common Room

Referendum Motion

Voting on motion titled: Letter to Oriel College and Oxford University on sensitive talks

Letter to Oriel College and Oxford University on sensitive talks