Racism at Universities

Last updated: 5 April 2021

This article on racism addresses: What are the #ShutDownSTEM, #ShutDownAcademia and #Strike4Lives movement about? How racist is the UK? What are the leaders saying about racism at Universities? What do victims of racial harassment at universities say? How many British Professors are Black? Do black female professors have to deal with bullying to win promotions? Do black academics have to work harder to get promoted? How many racism complaints have UK Universities received? What do UK Universities do about racism complaints? You can join the conversation about race in education on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BRAINCURES/status/1288570670893367296?s=20 

What are the #ShutDownSTEM, #ShutDownAcademia and #Strike4Lives movement about?

On 10 June 2020, the publisher Nature has united with scientists protesting against racism in academia. For example, these https://twitter.com/nature/status/1270648031411568640?s=20 and https://twitter.com/nature/status/1270438926352818177?s=20 tweets have been re-shared 2,000 and 400 times respectively as of 16 September 2020.

On 6 August 2020, top scientist change agents Jackie Hunter, Ruth McKernan, Sara Rankin, Inês Barroso, Robert Lechler, Mike Brady, Geraint Rees, Eleanor Riley, Paul Stewart Sarah Teichmann have proposed the following 7 principles to help end the racial profiling of at least 43 percent of 5 million scientists worldwide.

Please read more about why it is important for you to endorse these principles here

and sign them by going to from you desktop

How racist is the UK?

• Nearly a third of people in Britain admit being racially prejudiced. Studies published in 2014 and 2015 confirm this (1)
• Levels of racial prejudice increased with age, at 25% for 17 to 34-year-olds compared with 36% for over-55s (1)
• Education had an impact with 19% of those with a degree and 38% of those with no qualifications reporting racial prejudice (1)
• more than 90% of those who admitted some level of racial prejudice wanted to see a reduction in the number of people entering the UK (1)
• A fifth of students who were racially harassed said they had suffered physical assaults. More than half of them said they had suffered racial slurs and insults, including the N-word and the P-word, from other students and from lecturers. Other commonly experienced forms of racism included micro-aggressions, such as dismissive and stereotyping comments, and being ostracized (11)
• Black women make up just 0.1% of active professors in the UK compared with the 68% who are white men – figures said to have provoked the Duchess of Sussex to exclaim “oh my God” during her visit to the Association of Commonwealth Universities last week (6)
• A 2019 EU survey, 'Being black in the EU', ranked the UK as the least racist in the 12 Western European countries surveyed (2)

The below infographic shows findings conducted by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in relation to racism at UK universities (3).

Black female professors must deal with bullying to win promotion

Just 0.7% of UK academics with the rank of professors are black:

Half of BAME students harassed at Glasgow University:

How many racism complaints have UK Universities received?

Racism is rampant at UK universities. They've been condemned for their failure to tackle racism but business continues as usual with 6 cases as this happening across UK universities each day and wasting at least 45 million GBP of UK taxpayers money. The Keep Calm British Monarchy Approach to Problems, IMHO.

Universities must do more to tackle harassment and hate crimes on campus, as 92 of the UK's 136 universities that responded to the UUK survey showed that only (11):

• 81% have updated their discipline procedures, with 53% introducing or making additions to their student code of conduct
• 78% have provided students clear information on how to report an incident
• 72% have developed or improved recording of data on incidents, with a more centralised approach
• 65% have rolled out consent training to their students
• 50% said students could report incidents anonymously

What are leaders saying about racism at Universities?

Ilyas Nagdee “As students of colour continue to face harassment in their places of study [and] abuse in their halls of accommodation, universities remain ill-equipped and unwilling to tackle the issue at large” (8)

Nicola Dandridge, former chief executive of Universities UK, said of the report: “We recognise that there is a serious issue with the lack of black representation among senior staff in universities. We need to acknowledge and nurture the talent of our BAME academics, and encourage those who have left to return.” (7) and "The findings from UUK show progress is being made by universities to develop systems and policies to address these issues but more must be done. These improvements need to be taking place across all universities. The OFS will continue to work with universities and colleges, and other organisations to ensure that all students from all backgrounds can be - and feel - safe on campus." (10) Now, as chief executive of the Office for Students – the independent regulator of higher education in England – she has described the EHRC’s findings as “deeply troubling. It is a particular concern that many students do not feel confident in reporting incidents of racial harassment and have low confidence in their complaints being dealt with. That almost half of universities believe that every incident of racial harassment against their students was reported indicates a worrying complacency.” (11)

A Department for Education spokeswoman said: “Racial harassment is unacceptable and we cannot tolerate staff and students being victims of it at our world-leading universities. We expect institutions to take their responsibilities under the Equality Act extremely seriously and have robust procedures in place to respond to incidents.” (11)

Spokeswoman for Universities UK, which represents 136 higher education providers, said: “There is no place for racism on a university campus. In the coming year we will develop guidance targeted at addressing racial harassment.” (8)

UUK president Prof Julia Buckingham, the vice-chancellor of Brunel University London, said: "The higher education sector recognises its shared responsibility to eliminating hate crime, which is unacceptable in our society, and in our universities. We are committed to ensuring we create welcoming and inclusive environments for students of all genders, backgrounds and ethnicities to flourish and this research shows significant progress towards that. While it is understandable that there has been a particular focus on addressing gender-based violence, it is time for us to step up and make sure the same priority status and resourcing is given to addressing all forms of harassment and hate.“ (10)

Matt Waddup, the UCU’s head of policy, said: “This report tells of a higher education system that is plagued by bullying and stereotyping, and forces black women to develop strategies just to cope. They don’t feel they can be themselves, yet also feel forced into the role of stereotype and role model. We need to look at how to transform a system that black female professors say is riddled with unfairness and bias. That starts with an overhaul of promotion structures to ensure genuine equality of opportunity.” (6)

Chris Skidmore “Universities have a responsibility to ensure that they provide a safe and inclusive environment for all staff and students and I expect institutions to act swiftly to investigate and address incidents of racism reported to them.” (8) and “It is unacceptable that the number of black academic staff in senior positions has fallen, as this does not represent our British society. Universities need to make more progress and I urge all vice-chancellors to address the barriers that are holding back black and ethnic minority staff from senior positions. A true representation of Britain at the top levels of our universities will support the progression of [black and minority ethnic] staff, as well as improving students’ experience.” (9) and "Any form of harassment, violence or hate crime is abhorrent and unacceptable anywhere in society and this includes our world-leading universities, which should be safe and inclusive environments. The impact of these offences can be devastating on victims and while this report shows the progress which has been made, it also highlights the sad truth that there is much further to go to combat the culture of harassment, support those affected and take serious action where needed. I am urging all leaders to prioritise a zero-tolerance culture to all harassment and hate crime and do all they can to follow these recommendations." (10)

Priyamvada Gopal ‘Often when issues are raised, in my experience, they are either ignored or dismissed.’ (8)

David Lammy, MP “It is absolutely clear from these findings that. many universities are not treating racism with the seriousness it deserves If universities do not act fast to change the culture, from the lecture hall to the student union, talented students from BME backgrounds will continue to be locked out.” (8)

What do victims of racial harassment at universities say?

During her year studying abroad in Spain, she made a complaint about a lecturer who was making racist comments in class. When the Spanish university did not deal with it, she took the matter up with her UK university. “They quickly brushed off my complaint as a cultural difference, was essentially told that I was overreacting and to not take the complaint any further or to leave the placement. This was extremely upsetting – a raw example of how badly they are at dealing with racism. In my time of need I expected them to back me up, and they didn’t. I have lost all trust in them.” The student added that the lack of minority ethnic lecturers in her department was a symptom of institutional racism at the university. "There is no person of colour in a senior level position, I think this is why when I called out racism they tried to silence me, as there is really no one with the same lived experience as me.” (11)

How many British Professors are Black?

In 2011, a survey conducted by HESA and ONS revealed that only 0.4% of British professors are black, when 2.8% of the UK's population in of Black African descent. Henry Goulbourne, a professor of sociology at London South Bank University, told Guardian that UK universities are riddled with 'passive racism'.

Do black female professors have to deal with bullying to win promotions?

A Guardian report by Richard Adams and David Batty indicates that 14 of 20 (60 percent) of women Black academics experienced bullying with two taking legal action (6). Influencers comments included:

One professor related how even contributing to departmental meetings was made humiliating: “I had my hand up for about half an hour. The debate was going on and I just kept it up and everybody was looking at him and eventually everyone was looking at him, looking at me.” The women felt they received little support from their white female peers, whom they said tended to side with their male counterparts. One woman told her: “I don’t understand why everything has to be a battle and I know that it’s because I’m a black woman.” Another said that even promotion did not solve the barriers she faced: “Actually it’s a really greasy, slippery pole and so you go higher up and you think: ‘Oh, life will be better.’ It just gets worse, actually.”

Kalwant Bhopal, professor of education and social justice at the University of Birmingham, said her research showed universities gave greater priority to tackling gender inequality than racial inequality, said: “In my research I found when people complained about racism at universities, it was often dismissed as a clash of personalities. When I give talks on this, I’m often asked: ‘How do you know it’s racism?’ I’m never asked: ‘How do you know it’s sexism?’”

Do black academics have to work harder to get promoted?

Black academics have to work at least 10 times harder to get promoted. A Guardian article by Richard Adams and David Batty in 2019, stated that when questions are asked about the number of black academics there is tendency to lump together both internationally recruited academics and home staff, regardless of the black and racialised groups from which they originate. This approach masks the inequalities that exist between different ethnic groups and subverts challenges from black academics as to why they are underrepresented (7).

Some statements included:

Some black female academics said that

• they've 'been mistaken for the coffee lady'
• Heidi Safia Mirza, Professor of race, faith and culture at Goldsmiths, University of London stated "When I was appointed professor of racial equality studies, the first chair of its kind in Britain, a white male professor leaned in to me at the celebration drinks and whispered bitterly in my ear, “Well, they are giving chairs to anyone for anything these days.” His so-called white hurt sees equality for people of colour as an unfair social advantage rooted in policies of political correctness. The underlying belief now is that those who are really discriminated against are the displaced white majority. 
• Deborah Gabriel, Senior lecturer at Bournemouth University in the Faculty of Media and Communication and director of the Black British Academics network stated "During my first year of teaching, I became the object of racist and sexist discourse exchanged between a group of white students on Facebook, three of whom were women. Their online conversation, during which they referred to me by my race and gender in animalistic and graphic sexual terms, took place during my class, where they laughed openly, though at the time I was unaware I was the brunt of their jokes."
• when a promotion opportunity at the university arose in a field of leadership, the post was offered to a competitor – a white man. The black academic was left with disappointment and frustration that gave way to anger and also confusion, as they had interviewed well, or so they thought, and the academy is all about meritocracy (is it not?). There were only two obvious reasons left as to why I was not offered the job and why I received virtually no feedback: my race and my gender. In subsequent discussions with family and close friends, the words that I had heard as a five-year-old came up time and time again: “you have to be 10 times better”. This experience left me contemplating leaving science altogether. But subsequent experience as a mentee afforded me new clarity, since my mentor’s academic progress to professor was not via the route taken by many stem academics – undergraduate degree to PhD to post-doctoral to lecturer. I had been blinded by a belief that there was only one way to progress, by adapting to the norms of the science environment, and that the recognition from important others was crucial to my self-recognition. I am now a scientist who gives back by focusing on my students’ academic ambitions rather than my own. My fear, disillusionment, dented self-esteem and lack of direction dissipated and I found my voice as a black woman scientist.

Chris Skidmore, the minister of higher education in UK speaks hard rhetoric, but we have yet to see some action:

What do UK Universities do about racism complaints?

Universities are failing to address thousands of racist incidents despite higher education leaders in the UK calling for change (4)

Key UK Leaders within higher education are calling for universities to do more to tackle racial harassment and hate crimes (5)

References

1. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27599401
2. https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2019-being-black-in-the-eu-summary_en.pdf
3. Tackling Racial Harassment - Universities Challenged. EHRC 2019 https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/publication-download/tackling-racial-harassment-universities-challenged
4. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/23/universities-failing-to-address-thousands-of-racist-incidents
5. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-49971337
6. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/feb/04/black-female-professors-report
7. https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2017/nov/16/black-female-academics-ive-been-mistaken-for-the-coffee-lady  
8. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/jul/05/uk-universities-condemned-for-failure-to-tackle-racism
9. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jan/23/minister-criticises-lack-of-senior-black-uk-academics  
10. Universities 'must do more to tackle harassment' - BBC News
11. Universities failing to address thousands of racist incidents | Race | The Guardian

Further readings

1. Ula CrowdFunding Campaign for Zero Tolerance to Bullying, Harassment and retaliation at Universities at the award winning CrowdJustice platform https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/tackling-bullying-and-harassment-at-workplace/. You can join the conversation about what should be done about such coverups on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BRAINCURES/status/1233455578548178945?s=20
2. The Past, Present and Future of Research culture lnkd.in/grGD75g
3. Racism at universities lnkd.in/eakXP3d
4. Harassment in academia lnkd.in/dfYkSjJ