Avoiding making eye contact with someone or asking where they are originally from have been deemed as racist micro-aggressions in a newsletter issued by Oxford University.
The institution's Equality and Diversity Unit states these two common behaviours could potentially cause the listener 'mental ill-health'.
The Trinity term newsletter claims asking someone where they are 'originally' from implies that the questioner does not believe they are British.
The Trinity term newsletter also mentions 'not speaking directly to people' and 'jokes drawing attention to someone's difference' as possible forms of everyday racism. It says people doing these things are often 'well-meaning', but insists they are still reinforcing negative stereotypes and making people feel like they 'do not belong'.
But Professor Frank Furedi, author of What's Happened To The University, said the advice was 'Orwellian' and called on Oxford to 'wake up to reality'.
