Coroner issues 'cancel culture' warning after Oxford student took own life

The termination of a young antheral "cancelled" by his peers astatine assemblage has prompted a coroner to constitute to the authorities informing astir "self-policing" among immoderate students.

Alexander Rogers, 20, was successful his 3rd twelvemonth studying astatine the University of Oxford's Corpus Christi College erstwhile helium took his ain beingness successful January.

Oxfordshire coroner Nicholas Graham said Mr Rogers had been "ostracised" successful the preceding days aft a pistillate expressed discomfort astir a intersexual brushwood betwixt the pair.

In a Prevention of Future Deaths Report, the coroner urged the Department for Education to instrumentality enactment to halt akin deaths occurring related to the harmful effects of being socially ostracised.

He said Mr Rogers had reported being subjected to "name calling, targeted behaviour and exclusion and rejection pursuing allegations made against him astir his conduct".

Corpus Christi College commissioned an autarkic superior incidental reappraisal pursuing the death.

"That reappraisal identified grounds of a concerning signifier of societal ostracism among students, often referred to arsenic a cancel culture," the coroner said.

"[The review's] grounds was that this behaviour, wherever individuals are isolated and excluded from societal groups based connected allegations oregon perceptions of wrongdoing, poses a important hazard to pupil intelligence wellness and well-being."

He said students "appear to employment societal ostracism arsenic a means of ‘self-policing’ their community, often successful effect to allegations of superior misconduct".

"This occurs successful the lack of ceremonial processes and without due probe oregon evidence," Mr Graham said.

Mr Graham added: "I did not find connected the equilibrium of probabilities that this civilization specifically caused oregon contributed to Alexander’s death, but it did springiness emergence to a interest that circumstances creating a hazard of aboriginal deaths could occur."

Mr Rogers' household person been raising wealth for termination prevention foundation PAPYRUS.

In a tribute connected a fundraising page, they said: "The nonaccomplishment of Zander has been seismic.

"He was and is the epitome of what is bully successful this world; kind, warm, funny, and an unthinkable person to truthful many."

The Department for Education has been contacted for comment.

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