I recently pitched an article to an online publication keen to platform ‘diverse voices’ on higher education policy, including ‘Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion’. My article was coming at it from a different angle to others I’d seen on the website, such as one recommending that we do not arrange chairs in rows where there might be ‘BAME’ staff and students – to be more inclusive (give me a break).
In my article, I made the case against racial eligibility criteria on student opportunities. In response, the editor who reviewed it suggested that I could “argue that these existing schemes [ones targeting individuals based on socioeconomic status rather than race] are insufficient somehow against those for race equality”. I didn’t want to redraft my article to argue for a viewpoint opposite to the one I hold and had written about, and so I left it at that.
But the editor’s response seemed to avoid any acknowledgement of the possibility that there could be a case against racial eligibility criteria on student opportunities. After all (her tone seemed to imply), why would a person not welcome
