A fifth of black students have been a victim of hate, reveals NUS survey
An NUS survey has revealed that many students of an ethnic minority origin live in fear of becoming victims of hate crime.
The report, No Place for Hate: race and ethnicity, gathered the views of 9,229 students from across HE and FE in the UK. It found that 18% of students of Asian, African, Caribbean and Arab heritage who responded to the survey had been the victim of at least one racial hate incident during their current studies.
According to the survey, the most common type of hate incident is verbal abuse, threats of violence and threatening behaviour. Some 42% of reported incidents took place in and around educational institutions and 54% of the victims of race hate incidents surveyed had considered leaving their courses as a result.
The report called on colleges and universities to take an active role in making campuses safer for potential targets of hate crime. It suggested actions such as the development of preventative and educational activity on prejudice and hate, and the establishment of multi-agency, joined-up approaches to tackling hate.
Kanja Sesay, NUS Black Students’ Officer, criticised the “significant barriers” that learners of ethnic minority origins have to overcome to go to university.
“Racially motivated hate crimes have not gone away and universities cannot afford to turn a blind eye any longer,” said Sesay.
“If universities refuse to acknowledge that these problems exist on their campuses then those barriers will grow.”
Apostolos Kostoulas
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