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

The suicide of a young man "cancelled" by his peers at university has prompted a coroner to write to the government warning about "self-policing" among some students.

Alexander Rogers, 20, was in his third year studying at the University of Oxford's Corpus Christi College when he took his own life in January.

Oxfordshire coroner Nicholas Graham said Mr Rogers had been "ostracised" in the preceding days after a woman expressed discomfort about a sexual encounter between the pair.

In a Prevention of Future Deaths Report, the coroner urged the Department for Education to take action to stop similar 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 following allegations made against him about his conduct".

Corpus Christi College commissioned an independent serious incident review following the death.

"That review identified evidence of a concerning practice of social ostracism among students, often referred to as a cancel culture," the coroner said.

"[The review's] evidence was that this behaviour, where individuals are isolated and excluded from social groups based on allegations or perceptions of wrongdoing, poses a significant risk to student mental health and well-being."