Pride Not Prejudice - Black History Month Initiative

After reading this book it made me feel quite sad that young black girls are going through these struggles everyday at their place of study.

It was interesting how they started out as trying to fit in, to try and be like others – going to the pub, getting drunk – but in time they realised they didn’t enjoy it and that’s not what they were about. So they found other black girls who had the same interests and experiences as them and in doing so found themselves.

I wasn’t shocked at some of the comments and incidents, I just felt disappointed that we’ve come so far but we still have a very, very long way to go.

I work as a Wellbeing Officer and during a previous secondment I only saw 3 black students. 1 male and 2 female. It makes me think of all the BAME students out there who are facing these experiences daily and are not speaking to anyone. What is it doing to their Mental Health?

I truly believe we should have a black person in Wellbeing in every college at the University. This would let black students know that there is someone they can speak to who they can relate to. I’ve had a black girl come and see me because she saw my face at the induction session! She thought it was great and she would tell her friend to come and see me too!

We need more meetings like the one we just had, we need more meet up groups, more networks so we can share experiences and support each other in how to deal with situations when they arise. It’s knowing that they’re not alone because more often than not that’s how they are feeling. – Like they’re invisible and they don’t fit in anywhere because there’s nothing there that they can relate to.

We have to keep talking about this, keep moving forward, keep creating spaces.

The book ended on a positive note  - they said that university was worth it and the experiences made them stronger, they learnt about themselves, their identities and their blackness.

I thought it was a brilliant book.

It was a great experience [..]  This will also help the recruitment team to develop relationship and increase awareness of equality and diversity during the recruitment process.

It was interesting to know students experiences at the University and suggestions they made –

• Having diversed Recruitment Panel at the time of interview
• A lecturer who understands students culture and background e.g.– understanding a topic of dissertation and purpose
• Not having current line manager on the Interview Panel

A Few bullet points  as per the research

• 77000 students in UK are black students – 59% are black female
• Caribbean students are 3 times more likely excluded
• As per our Race Equality Charter the average proportions of BAME on more senior academic positions e.g. Senior Research Fellow, Senior Lecturer, Reader and Professor are 13.3% and 15%, 9.7% and 8% respectively during the same period respectively
• The statistics of the BAME by academic grade indicates that there is much variation of the proportion of BAME on less senior grades compared with senior academic grades.

This was such a helpful event! I enjoyed being part of it. These are the things that we can add to our E&D action lists based on the discussion that we had:

Shortlisting should be done by people different from those who are on the panel

Having a black person to deal with wellbeing in each college or school

Practices that allow having supervisors outside department / school / uni who have relevant / black experience

Culture of communication — ethical behaviour/ improving practices by students and staff

HPSU — limitations of back people having placements — think about placements in terms of gender and race

Student culture needs changing in relation to the way black tutors are treated in some cases

Microagressions awareness and training should be part of everyone’s education — it should be made a part of induction week

The main points I brought with me and wanted to raise today were:

• Less than 2% of academic staff are black at the university
• We face a number of challenges from a recruitment perspective in attracting and appointing black staff
• In 2017 UK BAME staff comprised only 10 percent of applicants for academic posts
• In 2017 the largest demographic of applicants for academic posts were Non UK BAME  (34 percent)
• In 2017 only 9 percent of UK BAME applicants for academic posts were offered the position
• In 2017 6 percent of professors at the university were BAME (I do not have the figure for black professors within that)
• Black academic staff have reported that they face challenges and barriers in trying to progress their careers to be senior lecturers, readers and professors
• Majority of senior lecturers, professors and readers are white men
• Within the recruitment team we are trialling a number of  initiatives to reduce the instances of unconscious biases and discrimination at interviews and shortlisting
• We have created an independent interview panel of BAME staff that can be called upon to sit in on interviews when there is a lack of diversity
• We are developing our recruitment and selection training in order to help staff identify and understand the impact of unconscious biases
• The idea of blind recruitment has been raised i.e. removing names and personal information from application forms but as of yet hasn’t been implemented
• One of the challenges for academic recruitment is that it is often done through a network and so BAME staff who may not be part of these networks for a number of reasons will be disadvantaged
• Black candidates often drop out at shortlisting stage which is an issue that needs to be explored and understood

The points I took away from the panel were:

• Students feel that different cultures aren’t represented and supported enough at the university
• Having academic staff that look like them and understand their views is important to students
• Including BAME staff on a panel can pose the challenge of whether or not their views will be equally heard and considered
• Students who have had Black lecturers feel that they were not respected by their peers
• It would be useful to understand student’s views on recruitment and what could be done to encourage Black students to want to work in academia  - I would be keen to set something up in order to explore this further 

Chloe's PhD investigates the multi-ethnic heritage of the Treasure Beach community in South St. Elizabeth, Jamaica.  Chloe is a dual citizen of the UK and Jamaica. Her father is defined as "mixed-ethnicity: African/ European" and her mother is defined as "European". Her paternal grandparents are both defined as "mixed-ethnicity: African/ European" and moved to the UK as part of the Windrush Generation in the 1950s. Chloe's father was perceived as "black" from the 1950s through the 1990s, but in recent decades has increasingly been labelled as "mixed-race". Despite her "black" ancestry, she did not inherit her father's Afro hair, brown skin, and brown eyes so she moves through the world with the privilege of a "white" individual. 

Chloe's main points from the event:

• There is a need to encourage, develop, and enhance student-led change. Instead of theorising amongst staff, we should be consulting black students directly to understand the obstacles they face in academia on a daily basis. This is the only way to affect real and impactful transformation within university culture.
• The obstacles and hindrances mounted against black students in universities are systemic. From the curriculum, through representation amongst staff, to the problematic histories at the very core of our institutions. 
• We need open and frank conversations about issues that discourage black students, and we shouldn't be afraid to delve into them. We must pin down our definition of blackness, and all of the diversities and nuances of that term, to produce an actionable manifesto that truly serves the black community.