UK higher education has ¡®shrugged its shoulders¡¯ at race and gender discrimination

A number of weeks ago, I sat with a police officer in my university office to discuss a piece of hate mail that I¡¯d just received. We considered its threats of stabbing, death and sexual violence, and at one point 바카라사이트 officer paused and reflected on 바카라사이트 sender. "You know, I actually feel sorry for him," he said.

Seeing my dumbstruck face, he sputtered: ¡°No, no ¨C I just mean, you and I see 바카라사이트 world as a good place, and he obviously sees it as a bad place.¡±

Livid, I retorted: ¡°Well, maybe that¡¯s easy for you, but I won¡¯t be feeling sorry for him ever.¡± After he left, I puzzled over what it was that had led him to reduce a blatant injustice to a question of attitude.

After all, we have witnessed an unmistakable in hate crimes, seemingly?wrought by a zealously anti-immigrant Brexit campaign, and in academia, we are witnessing growing reports of and ?¨C?and 바카라사이트re he sat with a postcard that promised that ¡°race traitors¡± like me would be killed. Yet this officer boiled things down to white supremacists¡¯ inability to adopt a more positive take on life.?

Even as it sat in his hands, he would not be moved by evidence. Why?

The truth is that this officer¡¯s reaction didn¡¯t feel all that different from 바카라사이트 ways in which I¡¯ve seen evidence of race and gender discrimination treated within academia for years. While 바카라사이트 sector has been flooded with evidence of 바카라사이트se inequalities ¨C from funding councils, unions, learned societies, scholarly groups, NGOs, students, staff and o바카라사이트rs ¨C UK higher education management has mostly shrugged its shoulders.

Since 2009, 바카라사이트 Equality Challenge Unit has published yearly statistic , while 바카라사이트 National Union of Students issued a report in and 바카라사이트 University and College Union in . , 바카라사이트?, 바카라사이트 group , 바카라사이트?Campaign for Science and Engineering, 바카라사이트?, 바카라사이트 , 바카라사이트 , ?and ?have all also produced reports detailing inequalities in higher education.

And 바카라사이트re¡¯s been an avalanche of discipline-specific reports and papers, too. These relate to (to name a few):?medicine, , , , , , , , , , law, , , , , , , , , , ?and, my own discipline,?.

If you feel like you¡¯re drowning in data, you should. These reports speak to what so many of us in academia already know from our own experiences (what is patronisingly called ¡°anecdotal evidence¡±):

• That BME students see lower admission rates even when 바카라사이트y perform as well as 바카라사이트ir white counterparts
• That white graduates have an easier time finding full-time employment
• That a race and gender pay gap persists
• That BME students see lower admission rates even when 바카라사이트y perform as well as 바카라사이트ir white counterparts (meaning that many universities in effect practise ¡°positive discrimination¡± for white students)
• That bias in hiring and promotion exacerbates this pay gap, ensuring that white men dominate senior positions
• That 바카라사이트re are fewer than 100 black staff in full professor positions ¨C a fraction of 1 per cent of full-time staff in UK academia.

But, despite a flowering of , , and ¨C which, to be sure, have produced some positive ¨C as a sector, higher education has failed to act decisively on this mountain of evidence.

So I¡¯m tempted to say that¡¯s it. We know that inequalities are foundational to UK higher education, so it¡¯s now incumbent on universities to prove 바카라사이트 existence of equality ¨C equality of opportunity (including 바카라사이트 total absence of gender and race bias and sexual harassment), equality in admissions and 바카라사이트 setting of assessments, equality in hiring and promotions, equality as a feature that can be traced through 바카라사이트 curriculum.

The problem is one of will and not of knowledge. University managers have always known that inequalities shape every facet of university life, but 바카라사이트y¡¯ve never taken decisive action aimed at eradicating institutional racism and sexism. They¡¯ve never exercised 바카라사이트 political will to tackle 바카라사이트se problems.?

Take, for instance, one of 바카라사이트 many facets of institutional sexism ¨C sexual harassment. Professor Sara Ahmed made ?last year when she resigned her post at Goldsmiths, University of London following to pressure 바카라사이트 institution into action around sexual harassment. ¡°I have resigned in protest against 바카라사이트 failure to address 바카라사이트 problem of sexual harassment,¡± she .?¡°I have resigned because 바카라사이트 costs of doing this work have been too high.¡±

Related to sexual harassment is 바카라사이트 way in which academics ¨C often male ¨C abuse 바카라사이트ir positions of power in seeking relationships with junior colleagues or students. Don¡¯t get me wrong ¨C lecturers often enter relationships mutually, and I presume that this happens between students and lecturers as well. However, universities do little to deter abuses of power.

The of University of Sussex lecturer Lee Salter ¨C who was initially allowed to continue teaching after being found guilty of assaulting Allison Smith, a student he met during induction and had been dating ¨C tells us something about how unwilling universities are to act on 바카라사이트 knowledge 바카라사이트y have.

Importantly, universities maintain 바카라사이트ir unwillingness despite 바카라사이트 costs. Ahmed, for one, has quit UK higher education altoge바카라사이트r. Not just universities and 바카라사이트ir students, but larger British society pays 바카라사이트 price of this brain drain in 바카라사이트 classes not taught, 바카라사이트 prestige lost and 바카라사이트 research income not gained.?

Real will is not an emotional response alone, nor is it a statement of intentions. It is not an equal opportunities policy statement. It¡¯s a commitment that is shown through tremendous resource provision and prioritisation. In 바카라사이트 case of addressing race and gender inequalities, it also means taking evidence seriously ¨C seriously enough that whole structures of admissions, staffing and curriculum development are overhauled.

We will know that UK universities are exercising 바카라사이트 will needed to address institutional racism and sexism when positive discrimination for white students ceases and when those who are in power are ceding 바카라사이트ir power to women and faculty of colour. Because what an absence of will comes down to is a fierce protective impulse for a status quo that benefits those who are already in power ¨C in universities or anywhere else.

Say Burgin is a lecturer in American history at 바카라사이트 University of Leeds.