Student target of online abuse over paper’s fake news fail

The Telegraph issued an apology after it incorrectly claimed that a student was trying to get rid of all white authors in Cambridge University's curriculum.

Oct 26, 2017
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The Daily Telegraph has been forced to issue an apology after they incorrectly claimed that a student was trying to get rid of all white authors in Cambridge University’s curriculum.

CUSU Women’s Officer Lola Olufemi is leading the effort to “decolonize” the Cambridge English Tripos and to feature more authors from different backgrounds. However, the Telegraph reported the story under the following headline: “Student forces Cambridge to drop white authors,” and Olufemi was subjected to abuse on several different platforms as a result.

On Thursday, the Telegraph issued a correction stating that the original article “incorrectly stated that under proposals by academic staff in response to an open letter from students on ‘decolonising’ its English Faculty, Cambridge University will be forced to replace white authors with black writers.”

“The proposals were in fact recommendations”, it continues, adding: “Neither they nor the open letter called for the University to replace white authors with black ones and there are no plans to do so.”

The truth is: Olufemi’s open letter and the movement for decolonization called for the university to take steps toward a curriculum that no longer “elevates white male authors at the expense of all others.” Staff in the English department have begun discussions on how best to implement this kind of change.

Cambridge has since issued a statement on the matter, saying, “We condemn the related harassment directed towards our students on social media as a result of the recent coverage.”

They also disputed the idea that authors were being dropped, writing, “Changes will not lead to any one author being dropped in favour of others – that is not the way the system at works Cambridge. There is no set curriculum as tutors individually lead the studies of their group of students and recommend their reading lists – those reading lists can include any author.”

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