The Owl of Minerva has flown, the university is dead: Can equity and diversity be done for success in higher education now?

The owl of Minerva flies only at dusk. Wisdom often comes too late, once the ship has sailed and the damage has been done. Will this be the fate of higher education in relation to Doing Equity and Diversity for Success? Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, racialized civil unrest, unprecedented changes and challenges, equity and justice remain elusive for people from minority ethnic backgrounds in higher education, who are now, more than ever struggling to breathe. Universities are a microcosm of a society whose foundations are built on colonialism and imperialism, racism xenophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, homophobia, and other poisonous manifestations of hate. In this chapter, Thomas introduces this timeless volume that immortalises the perspectives of anti-racist scholars-activists who implore that universities acknowledge and reconcile with their imperial history and legacy of colonialism, in order to redouble their efforts to promote social justice and eliminate institutional racism and effect sustainable social transformations.