Monday 23-05-2022 - 15:28

Laura Sadler reports on the launch of the Culture Commission: A Student Experience Panel. 

Over the past two years, our Students’ Union President Seun Twins has been working on a momentous piece of work, a student-led investigation into student life, called the Culture Commission. This piece of in-depth research aims to explore the cultural environment at Durham and proposes a series of recommendations to the University in order to create a more inclusive and welcoming space for all moving forward. You can read the full report here.

The report was launched on Thursday 19 March in Kingsgate at an event for staff and students. A panel of student representatives shared their experiences and gave a personal voice to the written report.

Seun opened by explaining the context of the report, as someone who has ‘accidentally fallen in love’ with Durham, but has recognised over her time here the deep-rooted cultural problems which plague the institution and its community. She hopes that the report will spark cultural change at Durham.

The panel welcomed Deborah Acheampong (Women’s Association co-president and English and Philosophy Student), Laura Curran (incoming Welfare and Liberation Officer and MA student), Jonah Graham (current Welfare and Liberation Officer and former LGBTQ+ Association president) and Meg Wishart (SU Student Trustee and History and English student) to share their experiences.

Some quotes are paraphrased.

Chair: Seun Twins

Panellists were first asked about their initial impressions of the culture at Durham University before they arrived here.

‘Oxbridge but not quite as good’

For Jonah, he knew the academia had a very strong reputation. He knew how traditional it would be, but picked Van Mildert College hoping it would have more ‘vibrancy.’

‘Whiteness’

For Deborah, she was hyper aware that Durham would be the opposite of the Black communities she grew up in. She recognised that she would have to ‘compartmentalise aspects of [her] identity’ to fit in and would immediately feel alienated because of her skin colour.

‘Close and convenient bubble’

For Laura, the collegiate system stood out immediately, and their initial impressions highlighted how close and convenient everything was, a true bubble geographically as well as culturally.

‘I had no-one to speak to’

For Meg, there was a lack of information and knowledge about the place she was to attend, and she felt she had no-one to speak to to fully understand Durham.

 

The panellists were asked how their perception of Durham University’s culture has changed during their years here.

‘I’ve seen the worst of Durham in my roles’

Jonah spoke of a ‘polarised’ perception, which had got both more positive and negative and noted hearing about lots of negative experiences through his leadership and SU roles. He spoke of the ‘lack of criticality’ that students have of their own actions but more positively, noted the new Queer community he has embraced here.

‘I feel a sense of embarrassment as a Durham student’

Meg expressed initial struggles to find people who ‘were annoyed about the same things’ and felt no-one echoed her voice when she spoke up about issues. Moving outside of the Durham bubble and integrating with the local community has initiated a change into being more of a resident than a student, but she notes that she still feels uneasy about her identity as a Durham student.

‘Pockets of community are a blessing to students’

For Laura, the experience has again been polarising. She’s found a place within the LGBTQ+ community and notes that these communities are important and valuable to many students.

‘There’s too much performative activism’

Deborah noted that her years here have caused her to introspect and challenge her own views in unprecedented ways. She expressed disappointment at the level of performativity in student activism here, so-called ‘Instagram activism’ in which the spectacle, not the change itself, becomes the focus.

The panellists were then asked about their own experiences of belonging at Durham and where they feel most and least welcome.

‘I want people from my school to be able to see themselves in a Castle gown’

Meg said she still didn’t feel she had found a specific place of belonging and was cautious of not ‘jump[ing] into somewhere for the sake of belonging.’ She worries that Durham feels an unresolvable tension between its desire to be an elite university and its agenda towards diversity and inclusivity. She hopes that through small changes, based off the Culture Commission, we can begin to breakdown the idea of what constitutes a ‘Durham student’.

‘Online Durham is a cesspit’

Jonah says he feels most comfortable in Durham’s queer spaces. He has concerns over Durham’s online culture (Twitter, Durfess, Overheard), which can take a heavy toll on targeted individuals.

‘College is a go-to space’

For Laura, it comes down to place and people, with both the community of friends they have made and college as a supportive environment. They can feel unsafe and unwelcome sometimes in nightclubs, in which middle-class males can display a sense of entitlement to space.

‘I have a sense of escapism’

Deborah admits that she hasn’t interacted as much with Durham as an institution but exists ‘in [her] own bubble’. As an estranged and a working student, she has communities outside of the University which grant her respite from the university bubble.

 

Panellists were then asked about their experience of learning at Durham University.

‘It took crossing an ocean to learn about the colonialism of Britain’

Jonah expressed a regret that he hadn’t engaged fully until later on in his degree, but admits a personal responsibility, and hopes other students engage more with the educative opportunity available to them. He wishes he’d been exposed to more diverse topics such as colonialism and queer theory, the lack of which he became more aware of after his year abroad in Canada.

‘My academic advisor is willing to go the extra mile’

Meg expressed that her academic advisor has been invaluable to her during her time here. She remarked that the world of academia feels ‘very secretive’, and she often feels there is an ‘innate knowledge’ that is inaccessible and never shared.

‘Nobody actually speaks about their degree’

Deborah’s experience was that few actively share experiences about their degree and that seminars have an almost transitory and ‘transactional’ nature. However, she appreciates the sense that you can curate your own path, particularly as a Joint Honours student.

‘I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked to say “chicken and a can of coke”’

Laura said that as a postgraduate student she now feels much more ownership over what she learns and able to reach out to staff a lot more. However, as an undergraduate here, she experienced a lack of engagement outside of set contact hours. She notes her Scouse accent has sometimes been spotlighted, and that her contributions in both seminars and SSCC meetings were underheard or undermined.

Finally, panellists were asked where they would find support when they needed it.

‘The onus is sometimes put on the student to take action’

Laura’s main support hub was college, but they recognise this is not for every student and they have heard experiences where the student has had to take responsibility, instead of being appropriately supported by staff.

‘I’ll always smile at another Black person in the street’

Deborah found support directly in the Philosophy department where the ‘academics are always up for a conversation’. She also finds alignment with other people of colour, even if they do not know each other directly.

‘I’ll explore every avenue possible’

For Jonah, support lies mostly with friends or colleagues, but says in times of need he reaches out to many different people and services until he finds the one that fits.

‘You have to be proactive in asking for help’

Meg said she’s more inclined to speak to a member of staff or an adult, as opposed to peer support, yet she does think that peer support works well for some people. She notes you often must reach out yourself, but that when she did, she found that staff were very keen to support.

 

As a conclusion, panellists were asked to give two words to describe Durham’s culture now and one word for what they hope it could become.

‘Very conflicted’

Based on his experience, Jonah said the current environment is ‘very conflicted’, but he hopes it could be, ‘wholesome’.

‘At a crossroads’

For Meg, the university is ‘at a crossroads,’ with the Commission a springboard to change. She hopes we can reach a Durham where everyone feels ‘collective, connected and valued.’

‘Meaningful’

Laura said the culture feels ‘interconnected (at times)’ but ‘overwhelming’. She would love for a Durham that felt ‘meaningful’.

‘Enriching’

Deborah’s Durham is currently ‘politically charged’ but a future culture should be ‘enriching’.

‘It’s not about just bringing in Black and Brown students’

Seun looks to the University to implement inclusivity, not just diversity. To make sure that instead of just numerically bringing in more marginalised students, diversity is met with a supportive and welcoming framework, so that students can enjoy and engage with their time at Durham and feel a part of the cultural network here.