The cruelty of campus cancel culture
Oxford student Alexander Rogers was the victim of an unforgiving rush to judgement.
Alexander Rogers was just 20 years old when he took his own life in January this year. A popular and talented Oxford student, he was described as a ‘vibrant presence’ in the Junior Common Room of Corpus Christi College. But at the inquest into his death this week, the public learnt that Alexander took his own life after being hastily condemned and shunned by his peers in what was described in court as a ‘pervasive cancel culture’.
Of course, suicide is complex and can rarely be reduced to any one cause. Still, the facts are these: two days after returning to university from the Christmas holidays, Alexander went to the pub with a group of friends, including a young woman referred to by the coroner, Mr Graham, as ‘B’. Later that evening, Alexander went to B’s room where they had sex. Over the following couple of days, B told several male friends that the encounter had made her feel uncomfortable. These disclosures prompted hostility towards Alexander, including a ‘physical altercation’ with a former boyfriend of B’s. Close friends then approached Alexander ‘to address the allegations’. They told him he had ‘messed up’ and they needed space from him. Alexander was said to have ‘appeared distraught’ afterwards.
Less than a week later, Alexander wrote a note indicating he intended to end his life and expressing his remorse for actions he described as ‘unintentional but unforgivable’. He then jumped from a bridge into the Thames. The coroner told the inquest that ‘Alexander was ostracised by his immediate peers because of their perception of what had taken place with B. As a consequence, he formed an intention… to take his life.’
Student suicides are thankfully rare. But a campus culture of judgement, condemnation and cancelling is not. A GP specialising in mental health told the inquest of a ‘concerning culture of social ostracism, certainly within an element of the student body’. She said it involved the ‘exclusion of students from social circles based on allegations of misconduct, often without due process or a fair hearing’. This describes what happened to Alexander – he was punished by his intolerant peers at the behest of one of their group.