Monday 02-11-2020 - 11:07

How can we insert ourselves in the solution if we are yet to insert ourselves in the problem? 
 
We are at a crossroads in our University or Durham in Transition. This includes new colleges, student number expansion, internationalisation, digitalisation, diversification, decolonisation etc. We need to talk about culture now more than ever. And although we should be welcoming the vibrant debates already happening on campus, it is clear to us that many university spaces are becoming battlegrounds rather than places for learning. The culture wars are getting out of hand and marginalised students are the collateral in an environment that would prefer hostility and toxicity over inclusivity and diversity. 
 
This year, we have had many opportunities to reflect on the state of our university and we always seem to end up talking about ‘the Durham Culture’. But I have come to realise that one single, homogeneous and unchanging Durham culture does not in fact exist. There is not one Durham experience that a student can or must have.  
 
Though we know in principle ‘Durhamness’ includes a range of experiences, in practice a ‘dominant Durham culture’ continues to grab our attention – especially in online spaces. This dominant culture has withstood the test of time and has been wrongly attributed to all Durham students when it really applies to a very visible minority. We hear most from the loudest voices, and this is why a dominant culture continues to take centre stage. 
 
Joe Docherty, Chair of Durham University Council, always says that “Culture is what happens when no one is watching,” but I would add that we can never really separate ourselves from the culture that we are all constantly contributing to. We’re not just onlookers. By watching passively, we are complicit in forming a community. I do not believe we are either watching or not watching – we are all part of this community and we are all responsible for building it. 
 
A dominant culture in Durham continues to mischaracterise all Durham students as one and the same, but it is our reluctance to address and challenge this, which has allowed problematic behaviours to cascade throughout our university. 
 
Thoughts on the Respect Commission 
 

The Respect Commission is a University Council-owned report, investigating ‘Respect, Values and Behaviour’ in Durham University. The report demonstrates an institution-wide recognition of systemic disrespect in Durham, but also an institution-wide appetite to promote positive behaviours. The Respect Commission is arguably the first step that Durham has taken to be introspective and start the process of long-term and sustainable cultural change. 
 
But it’s clear that ‘culture’, as well as ‘respect’, needs to be understood from a student perspective. The Respect Commission did not fully address the student experience – it treated Durham University more as a workplace. There has been a tradeoff between the staff and student experience, which was highlighted at the recent Respect Commission town halls where student attendance was considerably lower than staff. The onus instead has been placed on the boldness of student leaders, or the collective activism of marginalised communities, to paint the bigger picture of Durham, without sacrificing the nuances and intersections that create its culture. 
 
This model is unsustainable because unlike ‘respect’, ‘culture’ does not have a terms of reference or good guidance for the Students’ Union and the University to shape long-term strategy against. Moreover, these students and student leaders are also less afraid to use more direct language like racism, classism, homophobia, sexism, xenophobia, islamophobia, antisemitism, transphobia etc. instead of just ‘respect’. 
 
I am making it my priority this year to go beyond the Respect Commission and investigate the dominant and most visible ‘Durham culture’. I will be doing this through my Culture Commission – a report to explore and locate and ultimately deconstruct toxicity at Durham. 
 
What is the Culture Commission? 

I, as SU President, am commissioning a report on Durham’s culture from a student perspective. The report will have two purposes. Firstly, to identify and locate positive and negative behaviours or attitudes in the Durham student experience. Secondly, to offer sustainable and long-term recommendations to deconstruct and amend this culture. It’s our chance as students to take charge of our ‘Durhamness’, to recognise its deep-rooted problems but also to commit to the change that will ultimately make Durham a more welcoming place. I don’t see this commission as a continuation, nor a critique of the Respect Commission, but a complementary work that can exist beside it. 
 
The first step in the Culture Commission is to understand how students experience Durham’s culture. We only see the tip of the iceberg and often the loudest voices online, but I hope to understand the full range of understanding of our ‘Durhamness’. To do this, I'll be carrying out research which allows students to express their views and experiences of the 'Durham Culture'. This will include a short online form which will run alongside initial focus groups, giving students a range of opportunities to contribute their thoughts in a safe and constructive environment. Later in the year, once themes have been identified from this initial research, further focus groups will be held to allow for more detailed and in-depth discussion on specific topics. This research will be led by myself alongside the commissioners – and will allow us to develop recommendations for long-term, sustainable and systemic cultural change. 
 
This Culture Commission takes a similar format to the Respect Commission, but is exclusively about the student experience and motivated by ‘culture’ rather than ‘respect’. I want to make sure this commission is as accessible as possible and directly captures the student voice, and so the survey, SU Assembly, focus groups and commissioner updates will be central to this report.  
 
Where do we go from here? 
 
We are all responsible for calling out these behaviours and I encourage us all to utilise this Culture Commission as a constructive medium to start investigating the dominant toxic culture. Once the survey becomes live and the commissioners conduct the first focus groups, we should constantly remember that the commission will only be as powerful as the volume of student participation. That is why I urge you to contribute whatever thoughts, feelings or experiences you can. 
 
Durham University has so much potential to be the inspiring and engaging centre of learning we all know it can be, but we as students have this habit of distancing ourselves from a culture that we are in fact inherent to. We cannot insert ourselves in the solution if we are yet to insert ourselves in the problem – that distancing from responsibility in the long term is extremely dangerous. Whatever is preventing us from taking pride in our university is ultimately up to us to change. I want this Culture Commission to give Durham students a chance to shape Durham University, to make it the place we all know it can be.  
 
You will hear from me very soon.  
 
Seun x