Report condemns racism in UK’s ‘racially segregated’ student housing | Higher education

Universities and accommodation providers need to tackle the racism experienced by Black students in halls of residence, according to a report that found claims of “racially segregated” accommodation and widespread abuse from other students.

More than half of Black students surveyed in the report said they had been victims of racism while living in UK student accommodation, and nearly two-thirds had witnessed racism. “These experiences ranged from insensitivity around things like hair or food, to the use of racial slurs, to spitting, shouting and physical violence,” found the report, Living Black at University.

More than 1,000 students were surveyed and interviews were carried out for the research, commissioned by the student accommodation provider Unite Students, which is the first to deal with the experience of racism in higher education in a non-academic context.

Several students interviewed said they suspected there was an intentional policy by their universities to segregate students by race or nationality, with one saying: “My block was known as the block for Black people from London. I think it was probably intentional because there was also a block with mainly white students.”

Three-quarters of Black students reported an impact on their mental health due to racism, compounded by a lack of support and difficulties in finding Black counselors who had the experience to understand the impact.

The report concludes that universities and accommodation providers should act together “to eliminate racism from all areas of the student experience, including student accommodation”, including training for staff, and by ensuring that staff reflect the diversity of the students.

The report also calls for accommodation providers to “build a relationship of trust with Black students” and to collect and publish data and outcomes of complaints involving racism.

Prof Iyiola Solanke, the dean for equality, diversity and inclusion at the University of Leeds, told a seminar on the report hosted by the Higher Education Policy Institute that she was surprised that many of the instances of racism hadn’t changed from when she was an undergraduate, when other students expected her to be a drug dealer or to like hip-hop.

Solanke said there was a “direct pipeline” between tackling racism in university housing and increasing the number of Black professors.

“I think Black students have shown that they are adventurous, they’re willing to go to campuses that are not well integrated … but universities need to reciprocate and really need to do what they can to encourage students to stay, because that’s also a way to diversify faculty and diversify professional services,” Solanke said.

Hillary Gyebi-Ababio, the vice-president for higher education at the National Union of Students, said: “For a long time, the experiences of students in student accommodation have been overlooked and disconnected from the broader university experience. This is particularly true for Black students, who often speak of high levels of racism in and at university, including in their accommodation.”

The study did reveal some positive findings in terms of students and staff members tackling instances of racism: 40% of Black respondents said they had seen staff “positively confront racist attitudes”, while 57% said they had witnessed other students confronting racist attitudes.

David Richardson, the vice-chancellor of the University of East Anglia and chair of the Universities UK advisory group on racial harassment, said: “It is deeply worrying to see the proportion of students who report being a victim of racism in their accommodation. It’s another reminder that we must keep collectively working on tackling racism throughout higher education.”