What it's all about
"Once Black Students enter Higher Education, they have experiences which are worse than those faced by white students and worse because they are Black"
Bird et al.'s (1992) forceful conclusion comes from a study of students at three universities, and urges a shift in the focus of efforts concerning Black students from admissions to progression through the institution. Below, we examine some of the many specific challenges facing Black students which may have the effect of making their experiences 'worse'. Identity Ethnic minority students arriving in Cambridge are often coming from communities where there has been a large minority presence. A Cambridge college is very different to this and it may be the case that the Black student is alone in her year or even college. This raises many problems and increased pressures for the student.
One of these pressures is having to come to terms pretty quickly with your identity as an ethnic minority person. Ethnic minority students have to come to some accommodation with their position in society and in Cambridge society. All students have to do this but the mediation of race and ethnicity will in some cases make the transition more difficult. Disaffection The low number of ethnic minority students and staff at he University, especially in comparison with the number of ethnic minority people that might have been in the student's home community can lead to feelings of isolation and disjointment. This, when coupled with a lack of a formal or even a readily accessible informal network of support, can lead to disaffection.
This is generally shown in a lack of connection with the college or Department; frequent visits to home or to London. Caryl Phillips, in remembering the time he spent at Oxford in the late seventies, notes that he would get his work out of the way and then travel to London just to get of college, sometimes sleeping rough on the benches of Heathrow. All this rather than spend any more time than he had to in college. Disaffection on this scale is widespread from anecdotal evidence and it is very hard for a college to monitor such behaviour effectively.
In order to combat such disaffection some informal inter-collegiate student groups have formed. Their role is important, together with CUSU's, as a focus for efforts to develop an anti-racist agenda and as support networks to counter disaffection and to find some responses to the problems commonly faced by such a group of peers.
Paul Allen (1996) found that such groups were springing up on many university campuses in the UK. He quotes one female student:
"It [the informal group] gives a sense of security, it motivates you to discuss things and to deal with it. It gives you mutual support and counselling. The moral support means that you have got to get through for yourselves and for other black people generally. We are in a white institution, we have to encourage each other to be proud. We are role models."
In response to an increasing perception of the need for ethnic minority students to share their experiences with each other, some colleges might include an opportunity for ethnic minority students to meet as part of their induction programmes. In addition to University societies, college societies for people with an origin or interest in a particular culture might appeal should numbers be sufficient. For example, the students of Trinity, with its large Asian contingent, have recently founded a Trinity College South Asian Society. Other colleges could follow suit. Racism Paul Allen (1996) in his study of racism in a university found that racism was perceived by the ethnic minority students to be "part and parcel of the higher education terrain".
"racism does not necessarily manifest itself in the overt 'Alf Garnett' manner, much of the time it is subtle - the glance, the unsaid. It is these kind of experiences that Black students often have to endure on their passage through Higher education and beyond."
Against this backdrop of subtle racism come the outrages of overt racism. There has been overt racist behaviour by the students at the University. Indeed, it would be a surprise if there had not been. In the process of the CUSU Anti-Racism Campaign monitoring such cases I have been supplied with a range of experiences from the ethnic minority students which suggests that encountering racist behaviour is a common part of Cambridge life for these students. Thankfully, the atmosphere in colleges and faculties is broadly anti-racist and such behaviour is seen as beyond the pale. However, racist taunting does go on. Much goes unreported and is internalised by the student which may lead to withdrawal from college life. The system for reporting racist incidents is outlined here.
The problem (apart from the obvious) with racist incidents is that they do not have to be large to have a large effect. One off the cuff comment in the college bar may be enough to cause tremendous disaffection but not seen as worth the effort of reporting. Colleges are also small enough for reporting to be seen as an over-reaction and may lead to being frozen out for a period. Welfare responses must be sympathetic to this and issues dealt with sensitively.
How can racism be practically combated, especially if it never emerges into the overt? The members of the institution should feel comfortable tackling the issues as they arise. They also need to feel that the institution is itself striving to be anti-racist (non-racist or 'colour blind' is not enough). College and Department policies need to explicitly mention racist behaviour as unacceptable. These policies have to be followed up with action in order to keep anti-racism in high profile. JCR/MCR's may want to appoint/elect an anti-racism officer with a welfare/awareness raising role. A general liberal atmosphere conducive to integration has to be bolstered by the setting in place of more lasting and concrete structures to counter the steady drip-drip of racism which leads to disaffection, potentially depression and worse for many ethnic minority students.