Oxford academic staff ‘too white’

OXFORD University management has admitted that black and other minority groups are under-represented in academic roles at the institution.

This comes after Rhodes Must Fall In Oxford – a movement formed in solidarity with Rhodes Must Fall (RMF) at UCT – slammed Oxford University for slow transformation earlier this week when it called for a statue of Cecil John Rhodes to be removed from the campus grounds.

RMF In Oxford organising member Brian Kwoba said a recent survey by the Campaign for Racial Awareness and Equality (CRAE) showed that Oxford had “less than a handful of black professors”.

A university spokesperson confirmed this yesterday, saying the overall proportion of aca- demic staff declaring themselves as black and/or minority ethnic at the university is just 6.3 percent.

“We do recognise that black and other minority groups are under-represented in academic roles. However, this is also true across most leading universities, higher education in general and in many other sectors.

“The overall proportion of Oxford University academic staff declaring themselves as black and minority ethnic is 6.3 percent, which compares with national figures for academic staff of 6.7 percent.

“Oxford is taking steps to encourage applications and offer career support.

“The chairs of recruitment panels must undertake the Oxford Learning Institute’s course on recruitment and selection, which addresses the potential for unconscious bias in recruitment,” he said.

RMF in Oxford has also highlighted problems with the curriculum, where reading lists still included literature written mostly by white males.

“The Rhodesian ethos also appears in the undergraduate curriculum. In subjects like philosophy, history, literature, classics and political theory, the reading lists are dominated by the voices and perspectives of privileged white men.

“There are almost no non-Western or non-male voices on the syllabuses in the so-called humanities. What kind of mindset accounts for such a white male-dominated educational framework?” Kwoba said.

Oxford’s management said CRAE was at a joint summit where staff and student union members discussed issues raised by students on race.