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What is the Culture Commission?

In 2020, Durham Students’ Union President Seun Twins commissioned a report into Durham University’s culture from the perspective of its student body. The purpose of the commission was twofold; firstly, to identify and locate positive and negative behaviours or attitudes in the Durham student experience and secondly, to offer sustainable and long-term recommendations to deconstruct and amend this culture. You can read the full report by clicking below, or scroll down to see some extracts.

You can view a Q+A about the Culture Commission report here: https://youtu.be/LjQK1atBncM

“As far as I can tell, there is no single culture at Durham: the culture at my college is very different to the one within my course, is different to the ones within some societies, is different to whichever one newspapers keep talking about.”

REPUTATION & STUDENT CULTURE

Although the student body is more diverse than its depiction, the Durham stereotype makes the greatest impression on student life. The Durham stereotype acts as a powerful magnet for likeminded students from similar backgrounds, who see themselves in this trope or aspire to it and as a result, the demographic makeup of the student body sustains itself. Students then perceive Durham as a university that exclusively considers, preserves, and facilitates this one type of student.

CULTURE BY BELONGING

To be at Durham is to be in a bubble. The ‘Durham bubble’ is an intimate university experience with ready-made student communities that provide current students and alumni with a remarkable sense of identity and belonging.

Durham’s greatest strength is arguably its sense of community. The Durham bubble is a self-sustaining success. However, a bubble can distort perspective, inflate one’s sense of self, and limit wider interaction.

“No one tells you how much everything will cost.”

Student quote reads I liked my degree, but my degree didnt like me

CULTURE BY LEARNING

When students were asked about their relationship with academic members of staff, the findings, again reflected a sense of inconsistency as some students reported feeling supported and encouraged by teaching staff whereas others recognised a detached and distant relationship from academic staff. The latter was an observation also made by academics themselves, reflecting on students’ “transactional” attitudes towards their education and as a result their educators. Several academics who were interviewed recalled hostile interactions with students, reflecting the recurring themes of entitlement and disrespect also highlighted in the Respect Commission. One academic member of staff even stated they felt students belonged more to their colleges than to their departments and desired a stronger bond with their students both in and out of the classroom environment.

“I THINK THERE'S A RIGHT WAY TO DO DURHAM, AND I'M DOING IT WRONG”

CULTURE OF SUPPORT

In addition to safety, student mental health is another major theme revealed by the Culture Commission’s research. Students feel that mental health continues to go unrecognised and under-addressed. The collective feeling is that the hidden cost of the Wider Student Experience, in addition to housing and workload stress, is the (very Durham) cultural expectation to always be busy. In addition to myriad personal challenges students must confront at university, respondents believed that Durham students were either unwilling or unable to admit feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or exhausted because of the social pressure to perform an exciting student lifestyle. This contributes to persistent feelings of imposterism akin to those discussed earlier that are framed around class and finances.

Recommendations

ACCESS, PARTICIPATION AND SUPPORT

Durham University to:

Develop a radically ambitious Access and Participation Plan that supports the contemporary Durham student in partnership with the student body. Key areas we believe the plan should focus on are:

  • Recruitment and outreach programmes that expand the reach into diverse schools and communities.
  • Deeper relationships with the local community in the North East, so Durham University becomes a destination for students from the area.
  • Celebrate Durham’s diversity with prospective students and the wider student community.
  • Encourage retention and further study for Durham students by creating a Postgraduate Access and Participation Plan.

Durham University to:

Standardise and better communicate the student support frameworks that exist for students for both pastoral and academic issues. Monitor and evaluate how useful and accessible students find these changes to be.

Durham University to:

Commit to fit for purpose spaces of worship and religious practices.

  • Create a permanent prayer space for Muslim students.
  • Have more provision within the colleges to be able to prepare and serve halal and kosher food whilst supporting staff responsible to be able to provide this confidently.

Durham University to:

Develop and review culturally competent and intersectional mental health support and provision for students.

Durham University to:

Engage in effective communication and transparency of student disciplinary outcomes that includes dialogue and engagement with affected communities.

STUDENT LEADERSHIP AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

Durham Students’ Union to:

Develop mechanisms for student leaders and student groups to better coordinate in collectively condemning and challenging toxic behaviours.

Durham University and Durham Students’ Union to:

Co-develop an institution wide framework that supports students to engage more deeply with the local community of which they are part.

Durham Students’ Union to:

Explore splitting the role of Welfare and Liberation Officer into two roles, one to focus on student welfare and the other to focus on liberation and community.

Core elements of the new officer remit could include:

  • Liaise with colleges, common rooms and Experience Durham.
  • Student leadership and advocacy on issues relating to equality, diversity, inclusion and culture.
  • Responsibility within the students’ union Associations, faith groups, and other minority or marginalised groups.
  • Liaise with PVC Global, PVC EDI, Director of EDI, as well as local MPs and city council, residence groups etc.
  • Lead on external community engagement including outreach, civic participation, volunteering, philanthropy, and social enterprise.

Durham University and Durham Students’ Union to:

Revise and update the Student Consultation Framework in recognition of the complexity of student leadership at the institution.

Durham Students’ Union to:

Raise the profile of academic representation within the University with clearer relationships and points of engagement constructed between academic representation and academic societies and communities. Additionally, redevelop and enhance academic representation training, development and success sharing by drawing on best practice from other institutions.

Durham Students’ Union to:

Develop a leadership programme to support students from marginalised backgrounds to engage and participate in student leadership positions, explicitly tied to the above recommended access work.

CURRICULUM AND WIDER EDUCATION

Durham University to:

In consultation with appropriate student leaders, external and academic experts, develop a required learning programme that focuses on sex, relationships and drug consumption that goes beyond current work on consent.

Durham University and Durham Students’ Union to:

Deliver active bystander training to all students.

Durham University to:

Create a universal core module for students that distils the key elements, competencies and expectations of the contemporary Durham education offer and experiences.

Durham University and Durham Students’ Union to:

Continue to work at decolonising the curriculum to create more egalitarian learning communities within Durham. The Students’ Union specifically should utilise the current group of Decolonisation Interns to develop a clear long-term strategy for student led decolonisation work within the institution, building on the learning and experience gained during this past year.

Durham Students’ Union to:

Work in partnership to explore and champion ways that areas of the university community can better communicate and collaborate on learning experiences across Durham to develop stronger transgressive learning communities.