Oxford students can claim trauma support
OXFORD University has told students that they can claim “mitigating circumstances” if their performance in exams was affected by George Floyd’s death.
Prof Louise Richardson, Oxford’s vice-chancellor, said that the university is “determined to support our black students in every way possible”.
In a letter to students, which was also signed by 35 of Oxford’s college principals, she said she shared their concerns about the “traumatic effect of the brutality” by which Floyd, a black American, died at the hands of the US police, adding that it was a “manifestation of institutionalised racism”.
Prof Richardson’s letter followed a student campaign that called for university leaders to recognise that black students have been left feeling “traumatised” by watching videos of Floyd’s last moments. In particular, they called for Oxford’s black students to be granted mitigating circumstances in their exams.
Prof Richardson’s letter in response to the “brutal killing” of Floyd said that students who “feel their performance has been affected” should submit an explanation after their final examination or assessment.
Several other universities also said that if their students felt their performance had been adversely affected by Floyd’s death, they could claim extenuating circumstances.
Usually reserved for those who have suffered from acute illness or from bereavement, Oxford says that it deals with such applications on a “case by case” basis.
The university said that examples of actions examiners could take if they uphold the application, include bumping a borderline candidate up to the higher grade or disregarding a paper if the student’s performance was “clearly out of line” with their other papers.
Prof Richardson also said that tutors will be alerted to any potential need to reduce workload for students affected by the death of Floyd.
“We urge any undergraduate who is feeling the strain to contact their tutors,” she said.
The university was seeking to hire more black counsellors “as soon as possible”, which the student campaign had also called for.
An Oxford University spokesman said that they have always had a policy of taking mitigating circumstances into account for “any student who believes that a problem has seriously affected their academic performance”.
The letter comes amid renewed calls for Cecil Rhodes’s statue to be removed from Oxford’s Oriel College over his links with Britain’s colonial past.
University College London, Newcastle, Cardiff, Sheffield and Warwick universities, all of which are members of the elite Russell Group, confirmed that their students would be allowed to apply for leniency in their grades.