By Pruthvi Khilosia
University of Exeter law students’ racist Whatsapp group messages have been exposed to the public, following another act of racism at Nottingham Trent University.
A member of the Law society at the University of Exeter, Chris Omanyondo, has revealed the screenshots in a Facebook post.
He writes: “Before, or whilst you read them, I want to give everybody some context. These are people who I shared the pitch with week in and week out, have been out with, who have smiled in my face for several months, only to find that in their eyes, I’m “a happy monkey more like”. It’s scary to think that with such a stance against black people, Asians, and Muslims, that these individuals are responsible for organising one of the biggest societies on campus, and will potentially go on to be the kind of people who could be deciding whether you or your future children get the jobs you have worked so hard to get.”
“Quite frankly, this is one of the most disgusting things I have ever read,” he adds.
The students in the chat are found to use racial slurs, derogatory terms and rape jokes, stating: “Hey rape is funny.”
The exchanges have been revealed just days before the BLS elections are expected to be held and the five individuals involved have now all been suspended from the university, pending a major investigation.
Hill Dickinson LLP, a Liverpool-based law firm, revoked a job offer to one of the students involved. A spokesman said: “Following serious allegations made against an individual who was due to join the firm in September 2019, we have now spoken to the individual and revoked his offer of employment.”
A study by the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex, has found that British ethnic minority graduates are between 5% and 15% less likely to be employed than their white British peers six months after graduation.
The findings raise troubling questions because most ethnic minority groups in Britain are highly educated on average and are more likely to attend university than white Britons, says The Guardian.
Chris has raised concerns about the fact that individuals with discriminating attitudes “will potentially go on to be the kind of people who could be deciding whether you or your future children get the jobs you have worked so hard to get”.
He added, “It’s important for the university to show this isn’t acceptable otherwise it sends a message to other students that they can get away with things like this.”
“It’s vital for them to have a strong standpoint against this behaviour to prevent it before it occurs. From past incidences, the University [of Exeter] have given the impression that they tackle these things on a purely case by case basis, which is ineffective” he adds.
Just weeks before this revelation, Nottingham Trent University student, Rufaro Chisango, revealed racial harassment she faced outside her dorm room.
In a video posted on Twitter, male voices can be heard chanting “we hate the blacks” outside her door and continue with chants of “ooh, ahh f*** the blacks” and “sign the Brexit papers.” A woman then appears to try to stop all this by asking the men to “leave her alone.”
The clip quickly went viral with many expressing support and calling on the university to take action. The post has now had 6,722 replies, 67,247 retweets and 110,971 likes.
She said: “Words cannot describe how sad this makes me feel, in this 2018 people think this is still acceptable.”
Student Union President for Nottingham Trent, Martha Longdon, responded by calling the behaviour “unacceptable”. She added: “I have just spoken to the accommodation provider who assure me they are currently working to resolve this.”
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