The University of St Andrews has issued an apology for its past failures to value black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) students.
George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis in the US last month has sparked a wave of calls for social change, with people across the world protesting for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement among other causes.
The university has now issued a public statement recognising it has “let down” BAME students and staff.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon: UK Government must extend furlough scheme amid GDP plummet or jobs will be lost
Principal and vice-chancellor Professor Sally Mapstone said: “We know that for decades St Andrews hasn’t got this right, that we’ve let down our BAME students and staff and that our university has been, and continues to be, so much the poorer for it.
“On behalf of this institution, I apologise for that.
“Acknowledging that injustice, understanding what we are and have been doing to right it and where we must all play a part in enabling structural change is an absolutely fundamental step in our reform.”
The university has also published equality, diversity and inclusion progress reports for the first time.
It suggests just over 20% of St Andrews’ student population identifies as BAME while the proportion across Scottish universities is 8.8%.
A student breakdown shows 35.4% of taught postgraduates are BAME, 24.6% research postgraduates identify as BAME, and 17.9% of undergraduates are BAME.
Of St Andrews staff, 6.6% identify as BAME.
The figures also indicate 4% of Scotland’s population identifies as BAME and in Fife, where the university is based, the figure is 2.4%.
READ MORE: Robert the Bruce statue vandalised with graffiti claiming he was a 'racist king'
Ms Mapstone added: “Every one of the initiatives under way at St Andrews exists because we want to make a real difference to people’s lives.
“These actions are only a start, but I hope they provide a sense of depth and momentum, and the centrality of diversity to what St Andrews, under my leadership, aspires to be.”
Student president Jamie Rodney said: “I echo the principal’s apology – the students’ association, just like the university, has fallen short of doing everything it could do for BAME, and particularly black, students.
“We’ll be doing everything we can to support the university’s actions, and uplift the voices of our black students.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel