A racism report surveying 195 students at Goldsmiths, University of London has revealed that almost half of the students are from minority backgrounds and that they have experienced overt or indirect racism from their white peers.
'Insider-Outsider: The role of race in shaping the experiences of black and minority ethnic students', has found that 45% students from ethnic minorities did not trust the University to handle their complaints.
According to this report, 26% of those surveyed said that they have suffered racism from students and staff, including racist slurs such as the n-word and the p-word in lectures. An additional 43% of them also said that they had experienced everyday racialised micro-aggressions, with white students and staff questioning their nationality due to being a person of colour. Whereas the study also highlighted Islamophobia being prevalent on the campus. several female Muslim students reporting being afraid to wear their veil due to fear of reprisals for being wrongly perceived as extremists.
The report also connected the racial battlegrounds in lectures with BME students receiving poorer degree grades than their white peers, noting that almost half (49%) of respondents felt that Goldsmiths’ curriculums did not represent the lives and achievements of BME people.
In the meantime, senior managers have conceded that the university's record of addressing racism is unacceptable. Goldsmiths has previously appointed Dr Nicola Rollock to address the BME attainment gap at the university.
