Anyone put off Exeter University after the news today?

[AlphaApple]

And an RG university as well.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-43473517

[toffee1000]

It likely happens everywhere I’m afraid, not just Exeter.

[Palavra]

Talking to people I know, Exeter does not seem to have a particularly good image in terms of racism etc even before this. I know a couple of applicants or recent uni students who were put off due to concerns over historic antisemitism and others who were put off due to racism. While this is hitting the headlines, it’s something too many young students who have had to be concerned about racism due to their ethnicity are already aware of and doing their best to avoid. In London this type of thing is often encouraging students to apply only in London or in a select few other universities due to fears over racism. Awful and really not spoken about enough.

[AlphaApple]

I have no particular interest in the story btw but racist incidents seem to keep happening at Exeter.

I heard about Nottingham last month, but is racism really so endemic in English universities?

[Plasticbirdhouse]

Yes, that would put me off. Not surprised in many ways. Knowing people who graduated from Ex some are quite racist.

[toffee1000]

I've seen stories of it happening at Durham too, and probably at Oxbridge as well as others. At least action seems to have been taken swiftly.

[Butterymuffin]

And an RG university as well.



Why would you imagine this wouldn't happen in an RG university? Spell it out.

[goodbyestranger]

thetab.com/uk/exeter/

[AlphaApple]

@Butterymuffin I only mentioned that because RG universities seem to be held in such high esteeem by MNers despite it being mostly a marketing gimmick

[Tralalee]

No it hasn't put dd off as the course she wants is offered there. She went to independent school for a bit so is used to entitled racist yahs and just avoids them.

[Tralalee]

I cannot see what this has got to do with the university tbh. There are pricks everywhere.

[FaFoutis]

Racism is more likely in RG in my experience.

[BubblesBuddy]

Racism is more likely if the young people have racist parents and families. This means there are racists everywhere and in every walk of life. In every university and probably in every school. Universities are far more hands off than schools and racists find each other and there are no checks on their behaviour or rules as you find in a school.

We have certainly met racist parents and their children are now at non RG universities so the university has little to do with it. I love the idea that racists choose specific universities. They must all be fairly intelligent then and heaven forbid that racists choose Bath Spa or Bournemouth! No-one can possibly say racism is more prevalent at any type of university. How can anyone actually know?

RG might be marketing but they are also, largely, our oldest universities and I’m sure Oxbridge don’t need the RG label to market themselves! Their quality is there for all to see. They have also educated some pretty unsavoury characters down the years!

[LadyLance]

Exeter has always had a reputation for being very white upper middle class. I thought over the last five years or so they were doing better with these issues but it seems possibly not.

I think Exeter already has a reputation for being less multi-cultural and potentially racist than some other universities. So I don't think a further incident will actually harm them that much.

[SnowSki]

It happens in non RG Unis too. Recently at Nottingham Trent, where a group of students were chanting racist abuse outside a black students door all night!
Nottingham Trent racist abuse

[BubblesBuddy]

So are white upper middle class more racist than the white working class? I don’t think they populate the organisations set up to promote so called British values do they? The upper middle class probably have the sense to shut up about their views, if they have them, whereas lots of other people are openly racist these days, (phone in programmes exposed lots of racism during the Brexit campaign) especially against EU citizens taking their jobs, their houses, their place in the doctors’ queue and their place at the school they want. The upper middle classes avoid all of these issues. They pay for what they want.

[FaFoutis]

The non RG universities I have worked in tended to be more culturally mixed, the RG less. I teach subjects that reveal any racist views held by students very quickly.

[FaFoutis]

Yes, white upper middle class are probably less likely to act on those views I think.

[LadyLance]

I'm not suggesting that the white upper middle class are usually intentionally racist- just that it's not historically a multi-cultural university, and there have been some historic racist issues which were perhaps more due to thoughtlessness than intent. Basically historically it's a homogeneous group of people who don't always think about how events such as a "tribal" themed ball could come across to others. That was in 2012 btw and some students dressed in blackface or in ways that could be seen as stereotyping other races.

So historically Exeter doesn't have a reputation as a diverse and super-welcoming place. I am sure most students there are lovely and not racist at all, but I have known people from ethnic minorities be put off applying or accepting a place because of this image. So I think this incident will just reinforce people's views of Exeter as a place that's not always welcoming if your face doesn't fit. Obviously, this causes a vicious circle.

Anyway, I'm sure it's a small minority of students who actually hold racist views, but this incidents and the other incidents over the last 5/10 years show there is perhaps a culture at Exeter where students feel comfortable to, say, wear t-shirts with an anti-Semitic slogan.

[PearBookAir]

I'm pleased to hear the students who sent the disgusting racist what's app posts have been named and shamed and some have even lost their jobs with law firms. I hope they will be expelled by the University. I wonder what the parents of these indulged young men and women think, do they make excuses for their privileged daaaahlings or are they ashamed?

A mum I know is an Exeter graduate and she is a passionate nationalist Brexit muppet, frothing about EU citizens and Black and Asian minorities alike.

[LRH1983]

Doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

Especially the rape "jokes" and so on. I was at Exeter 15 years ago and it was a horrible atmosphere of "bants" and "it's not rape, it's surprise sex" type jokes. Women were treated by many men as just objects for their entertainment.

I wouldn't send my daughter there.

[strawberry1122]

I live in Exeter and can say i have never witnessed racism before here. I find the south west much less racist and less crime than the big cities. It certainly feels safer. No gun crimes, stabbings.

[C4T5]

Katie Hopkins went to Exeter!

[AndromedaPerseus]

Didn't Emma Thompsons adopted son experience racist abuse there as well
www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/06/bnp-emma-thompson-exeter-university

[strawberry1122]

JK Rowling went to Exeter Uni aswell.

There is a large Chinese population at the university. Painting it as some white dominated institution is not accurate i don't think.

[AndromedaPerseus]

I think there is now a large Chinese population at every U.K. University so that that unusual these days. The point is certain universities have always been seen as the preserve of the white upper middle classes and Exeter is one of the them as is Durham, Bristol, Oxbridge, St Andrews