- Conference
- 2022 Virtual Higher Education Conference
- Date
- 12 October 2021
- Decision
- Carried
In 2019, the Equality and Human Rights Commission launched an enquiry into racial harassment into public funded universities in Britain to examine staff and student’s experiences of racial harassment and the effects they might have on their education careers and wellbeing. The report highlighted that racial harassment is a common occurrence for many students and staff in British universities. The effects are seriously damaging to individuals and our society. Black staff with huge potential are being left behind in professional development within universities.
Black staff are also excluded, marginalised, and face hostile comments and stereotyping. Unfortunately, this behaviour often goes unchallenged, which results in staff feeling pressured to leave their employment. 3 in 20 staff reported that racial harassment caused them to resign their positions.
Common experiences noted included subtle and nuanced acts, often known as micro aggressions, such as being ignored or excluded from conversations or staff gatherings and being exposed to racist material. There were examples of anti-Semitic and Islamophobic slurs against both staff and students. Sadly, many incidents formed part of a pattern of repeated harassment.
The report highlighted the need to change the culture of Universities. The findings stated that universities were more concerned about their reputations than addressing racism and discrimination and safeguarding the welfare of their own staff. As employers, universities should create and maintain environments where racial harassment towards staff or students is not tolerated, where race and racial inequality can be discussed confidently.
We ask the Higher Education Service Group Executive (HESGE) to address the gaps in race equality highlighted by the report and work with the National Black Member’s Committee (NBMC) to
1) Explore ways of encouraging branches to engage with Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) by providing them with guidance and best practice advice on how to report and tackle racial harassment.
2)Work collectively with the NBMC to develop an action plan to ensure that HE employers commit to addressing the inequality of staff in the sector as a key feature of their post pandemic recovery plans.
3) Encourage HEIs to analyse their complaints data on a regular basis with their campus trade unions to ensure a robust system is in place for reporting incidences of racism and race-related complaints.
4) Increase awareness and understanding of diversity and equality across the service group.
5) Support the development of a good practice guide for activist and representatives in this sector.