The gutless cultural cringers who run Cambridge's Jesus College should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves

Jesus College has removed a bronze cockerel from its main hall following a protest led by an African student that it's "racist" because it "celebrated the colonial past". As a Benin bronze, it should, he demanded, be repatriated to Nigeria. The student claimed that the cockerel - bequeathed to the college by an army captain in 1930 - had been stolen in reprisal for the murder of British traders (in which case, fair enough, I should have thought). Another African student seconded the motion, saying “We spoke to a bronze repatriation expert who said that grown men cried after the return of pieces in 2014.” Cried with laughter at how gullible these stupid white folk are, presumably.

At one stage during the meeting at which the college's social justice warriors came up with their impertinent demands (which included a suggestion that the college commission a new work) one little twat apparently snapped: "the opinion of two white men isn't valid." The story was reported by The Times, but as it's behind a paywall, you can read it for free on Breitbart.

I would have thought that the most appropriate response by sensible adults to this particularly tedious form of pompous undergraduate posturing would be to tell the protestors to fuck off , mind their own business, and return to their studies (although they might wish to couch the advice in more elegant terms, obviously). But, given that most British higher learning administrators nowadays appear to be totally deficient in testosterone or common sense, the "authorities" (a misnomer, obviously) not only agreed to remove the offensive cock, but also came up with this stream of cowardly, Uriah Heapish drivel:

“Jesus College acknowledges the contribution made by students in raising the important but complex question of the rightful location of its Benin bronze, in response to which it has permanently removed the okukor from its hall.

“The college commits to work actively with the wider university and to commit resources to new initiatives with Nigerian heritage and museum authorities to discuss and determine the best future for the okukor, including the question of repatriation.”

For all I know, they then lined up submissively, dropped their pants, and bent over the the nearest table, crying, "We deserve it because we are all guilty in a very real sense."

Given the amount of nonsense college authorities are being subjected to by African students (there was Oriel's Cecil Rhodes statue, and Goldsmith's are being asked to remove a statue of Queen Victoria, for God's sake) perhaps universities should think seriously about whether accepting African students is worth all the aggro. Maybe candidates should be asked to sign disclaimers promising not to create a fuss regarding symbols of Britain's former greatness and accepting that, during their period of residence, they will never ask for a single painting or statue or sculpture or object of any kind to be removed from college premises just because they've discovered some spurious grounds for being "offended" by it. In fact, it might be a good idea to make every student sign such an agreement before their studies commence. If they go back on their word and start wailing and gnashing their teeth over some perfectly harmless item which has been on display in the college for decades or centuries without anyone previously raising an objection, they would be immediately expelled.

And perhaps students from foreign countries who suddenly take it into their heads to demand the return of some object to its country of origin might have it gently pointed out to them that if British colleges were to start routinely caving in to this type of demand, the British taxpayer might start militating for the "repatriation" of the millions of pounds of our money being powerhosed at the country in question. Britons coughed up a quarter a billion pounds in aid to Nigeria in 2013 alone. Take that back, and we could buy all the bronze cockerels we wanted!

In case you imagine that British colleges are uniquely limp-wristed when it comes to caving in to adolescent cultural bullying, it seems that American universities are even more craven. Two weeks ago, Harvard University agreed to change the title of the "masters" of its twelve undergraduate residential Houses. They will henceforth be known as "faculty deans". Why? Because the term "master" smacked of slavery to some undergraduates. If you're feeling strong, you can read about it here.

When did we become so soppingly wet?