Abstract
This chapter considers how, despite legislation, policies and expressed commitment to ‘equality and diversity’, racial inequalities (such as the Black-white degree attainment gap and the low number of Professors of colour) are able to persist in UK higher education institutions. Drawing on composite examples from empirical research, personal communications from colleagues in the UK and overseas and, my experience advising on race equality, I posit that institutional directives to address race inequalities often fail to engage seriously with the fundamental aspects of race and racism. Instead, it is argued that universities tend to embrace a range of limited short-term strategies and initiatives, which give the appearance of serious engagement but, in effect, make little substantial, long-term difference to the experiences, outcomes and success of students and faculty of colour. The chapter closes by considering how these groups might work toward a humanizing, successful existence within spaces characterized by this contradiction.
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Notes
- 1.
An analysis of the most recent data from higher education information database (HEIDI) published by the Higher Education Statistical Agency (HESA) reveals that there were 75 UK Black professors in 2014/2015.
- 2.
I have long had reservations about the blanket, unquestioned use of mentoring programmes in higher education because they are often predicated on the notion that the mentee is lacking is some way and are seldom accompanied by wider imperatives for institutional or structural change. The notion of sponsorship, where the sponsor facilitates introductions to key individuals, share potential networking and job opportunities, is infinitely more attractive (Schwabel 2013) and aligns with research which demonstrates the powerful role that social and cultural capital plays in facilitating social mobility (e.g. see Ball 2003; Bourdieu 1986).
- 3.
The Lawrence Inquiry was published in 1999. It was announced in 1997 by the Labour Government with a remit to investigate the circumstances (including failed police investigation) surrounding the racist murder of Black teenager Stephen Lawrence (see Macpherson 1999; Rollock 2009). For a summary timeline of events stemming from his murder in 1993 see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26465916.
- 4.
The #RhodesMustFall campaign began, in 2015, at the University of Cape Town, South Africa . Stimulated by the actions of Chumani Maxwele (who threw faeces on the statue of British colonialist Cecil Rhodes located on the campus), Black students demanded greater representation of a history and individuals that spoke to their Black African experiences. Their actions were later followed by campaigners at the University of Oxford, England, https://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/nov/18/why-south-african-students-have-turned-on-their-parents-generation.
- 5.
Lord Patten, the Chancellor of the University of Oxford (where the statue is located) dismissed the actions of the campaigners, announcing on a primetime BBC news programme that students who did not like the presence of the statue should study elsewhere (Espinoza 2016).
- 6.
In acknowledging this permanence, Bell does not suggest relinquishing the fight for racial justice or, indeed, becoming demoralised by it. It is the very awareness of this permanence and embeddedness that lends perspicuity to the strategies and work required to deconstruct it.
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Rollock, N. (2018). The Heart of Whiteness: Racial Gesture Politics, Equity and Higher Education. In: Arday, J., Mirza, H. (eds) Dismantling Race in Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60261-5_18
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