Background
1. This campaign came about after an Oxford University college was taken to an employment tribunal, accused of racial discrimination. A Black Caribbean man (born in the UK), was employed at New College, Oxford University as second chef for eight years, before that he had been second chef at Keble College, Oxford for ten years. He applied for promotion, but unknown to him, he did not ‘fit the essential criteria’ and the catering manager later admitted that he was never going to be given the job, even though he was interviewed for it. After the sham interview, (all other candidates were white but nobody was given the position), he continued in the role of acting head chef. He asked management what he needed to do to secure the head chef position and was advised to go on a course for a higher certificate in food hygiene. Whilst he was away on the course, New College employed a new head chef (who is white) without telling him, which distressed and humiliated him in front of his colleagues.
2. A few months later he was given a harsher punishment than stated in the staff handbook for a first offence of being late, (he had never been subject to any disciplinary proceedings before), even though he was working extra hours at the time. Although the college was advised by the Racial Equality Council that this was a breach of the employee’s human rights, and that they should reverse their decision, New College refused to do so. The chef became ill with depression. During this time he received barely veiled threats of dismissal, which talked about the planned ‘restructuring of New College kitchen’. The restructuring that was planned and eventually put into place, meant that the only job lost would be his and he was the only black chef at New College. The alternative, discussed in employment tribunal, would have meant he would be the only employee facing demotion after twenty years as second chef at Oxford University colleges. No equality impact assessments are ever carried out at New College, if one had been carried out in this case, it would be clear that the only kitchen employee suffering a detriment would be the only black employee. As far as we are aware there has never been a black head chef at any Oxford University college.
3. During the course of legal proceedings we discovered that New College were not carrying out their duties according to the RRA (Amendment) 2000. This became clear in the course of obtaining disclosure and in fact their HR manager admitted under oath that she did not know what the specific duties were, much less implement them. In law, higher education establishments are required to monitor, by race, management procedures, (including disciplinary action and access to training and promotion), and carry out equality impact assessments to ensure that none of their policies impact negatively on any specific racial group.
4. Legal proceedings are still ongoing in that case. Although unsuccessful at the hearing, the claimant has appealed the outcome. The reason for appeal is in part because he believes that the blatant flouting of race equality laws by New College, Oxford was not taken into consideration when deciding if racial discrimination was the reason for his unfair treatment and subsequent dismissal on medical capability grounds. New College had not followed their own procedures in several instances; they had sought advice from their legal advisors, Peninsula Business Services, instead.
Seeking justice
5. We contacted the EHRC on several occasions but they were not prepared to offer any assistance. After writing to many people asking for help, we met with a leading campaigner for the rights of black people in the UK. Lee Jasper, is Chair of the London Race & Criminal Justice Consortium, a founder of the 1990 trust, founder member of Operation Trident, and co-chair of BARAC. Mr Jasper advised us that New College were indeed breaking the law and helped us launch a campaign to draw attention to this fact. The Black Student’s Campaign (NUS) was already working on addressing the issue of UK universities not adhering to equality law and they agreed to back our campaign. The Black Student’s Campaign, along with Diane Abbott MP, Lee Jasper, Peter Herbert QC and others, wrote to the EHRC in April 2010 expressing concern about the absolute lack of enforcement relating to the Race Relations (Amendment) Act in education.
The Campaign: obtaining evidence
6. After looking at several Oxford University college websites, we realised they were not publishing results of any racial monitoring or equality impact assessments, as required by law. Our next step was to action freedom of information requests to 29 Oxford University colleges. It has been a long process as the majority have been evasive and late in responding. Several colleges have ignored our requests. If these duties were being carried out, the documents should have been readily available. The duties also include publishing results of monitoring and equality impact assessments, so if the duties were being adhered to, then FOI requests would have been unnecessary.
7. Oxford University confirmed that ‘individual colleges are individually responsible for carrying out the duties placed on higher education institutions under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000.’
8. We sent an FOI request to New College & asked for an explanation for the equality laws being ignored. Their response was evasive and did not fully answer the request. The bursar said that ‘the HR Officer and the Home Bursar discuss from time to time the impact of recruitment practices as it affects different groups’. This lackadaisical approach is obviously not a commitment to race equality. It was clear in the employment tribunal that the aforementioned members of staff do not understand their duties under the law, to promote race equality, and yet the bursar has given them responsibility for implementing policies in this area. This is surprising when you consider that David Palfreyman, the bursar at New College, is thought to be a leading source of knowledge in the UK regarding University management: he has written books on the law in higher education. David Palfreyman is also the Director of the Oxford Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies (OxCHEPS), which is based at New College, Oxford.
9. Merton College, who, according to FOI requests made by David Lammy , has not admitted a single black student for five years, did not even have a separate race equality policy. Merton’s FOI officer told us ‘I do not think the point that you make about publishing a ‘separate’ race equality is substantive because that would merely entail writing essentially the same policy five times substituting the words race, religion and belief, gender, gender identity, age and disability in each case.’ Merton’s responses were extremely defensive and argumentative: stating that they were a charity so they were not obliged to follow the law in this area. In common with many of the other Oxford colleges, Merton seems to be committed to gender equality and to believe that this is enough to fulfill their duty to promote equal opportunities, even though they do very little to improve race equality. Merton also sent me some ‘data’ from 2006 that did not contain the information requested. (Merton changed their mind and posted a race equality policy on their website not long after we received the above response.)
10. Keble College responded to our freedom of information request in an unusual way: by asking us questions. It was suggested: ‘restate your request but also explain why you think this is a priority use of the scarce resource that I have at my disposal, and what activities or funding you think I should defer in order to apply the resources necessary to respond to your enquiry’. The FOI officer is the bursar, Roger Boden, who, along with Keble College, was found guilty of racial discrimination at an employment tribunal in 2005. The chairman of the tribunal said: "The tribunal takes a most unfavourable view of a prestigious Oxford college, which, through its finance committee and governing body, failed to apply appropriate checks and balances and allowed a situation to prevail where there were no effective or operable policies in relation to equal opportunities at the college."
11. None of the colleges were able to produce credible evidence of carrying out equality impact assessments (EIA’s) in regard to their policies. Out of all the Oxford colleges that we requested information from, Linacre College was the only one that provided evidence of any real commitment to equal opportunities on grounds of race.
12. Several of the colleges that we contacted, use Peninsula Business Services for advice on legal matters, and in some cases, they pay a premium to them to secure representation at Employment Tribunal, should this be needed. Peninsula Business Services have clearly not been providing Oxford colleges with the correct advice regarding the laws on racial equality. Their methods seem to be to help colleges get around the equality laws, rather than to help employers implement them. Their boast is: “we can cut compensation claims from trade unionists and workers even in situations where the employer has an extremely weak case". The invites to their seminars apparently entice employers with the following workshops: ‘How to Dismiss Troublemakers’ ‘Say no to holiday requests’ ‘Manage under-performing staff’ ‘Avoid (i.e. get round) anti-discrimination laws’ ‘Being threatened with discrimination’
13. David Lammy uncovered information on individual Oxford colleges and the numbers of Black students and academic staff. Trevor Phillips of the EHRC spoke out after it was revealed that Oxford only admitted one black Caribbean student in 2009. We believe that an important factor has been overlooked: most black and minority ethnic people within Oxford University walls are employed as domestic staff. No one has considered the impact on these employees of working in an institutionally racist environment, where little attention is given to promoting racial equality.
14. Most racism at Oxford University is of a subtle nature and cloaked in academic language. There are occasions when it is more visible such as students ‘blacking up’, blatant anti-Semitism and publishing racially offensive newsletters. Most racist incidents are however, concealed by the powers that be at Oxford. Oxford has numerous alumni within the judicial system and mainstream media, so their power and influence is far reaching.
Conclusions
15. In summary, it is evident that even though the RRA (amendment) 2000 should have been implemented several years ago,(and is in fact in the process of being replaced by new law), it has, in most cases, been blatantly ignored at Oxford University colleges. This has been to the detriment of black students, black academics and black domestic staff. Unless the EHRC take action, and use their enforcement powers at Oxford University, black and minority ethnic staff, students and academics will continue to suffer from limited opportunity and, in some cases, long term damage to their careers and health if they dare to speak out against racial discrimination. If Oxford University can get away with racial discrimination, it follows that other UK universities will too. We believe an example must be made of Oxford University so that all students, academics and employees have equal opportunities within all university walls.
Actions to be taken
16. We believe it is imperative that the following actions are taken by the EHRC to address the blatant disregard for equality law.
a) New College, Oxford should be made to answer for not investigating serious allegations of racial discrimination and for carrying out restructuring without due regard to the disproportionate adverse effect on a particular racial group.
b) All colleges at Oxford University should undertake monitoring by racial group, in regards to all their policies and procedures and carry out equality impact assessments.
c) The results of the monitoring and equality impact assessments must be published on the websites of the individual colleges.
17. Oxford University colleges receive government funding so they must be held accountable and not be permitted to hide racial discrimination behind the walls of elite academia.
CAMPAIGN FOR RACIAL EQUALITY AT OXFORD UNIVERSITY
Contacts: racialequalityou@hotmail.co.uk
lee-jasper@live.com
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Campaign-for-Racial-Equality-at-Oxford-University/150781014962869
http://racialdiscriminationnewcollegeoxf.blogspot.com/
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/user/gregory_lewis
Former employee of New College, Oxford University, Gregory Lewis, pictured far left, with Reverend Jesse Jackson.
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