Racismanddeath threats ‘targeted at student leader’
THE student president at a Scots university says he has been stalked, bombarded with death threats and sent racist hate mail since he took up the role.
Malaysian-born Raj Jeyaraj is the first international student president at Strathclyde University, elected in June.
Since election, he says he has been told to “go back home”, received anonymous emails threatening to kill him and been abused for global terror attacks.
Raj, who only has one arm after being involved in a car crash in 2009, says he has also been targeted for his disability.
The 25-year-old said: “People will say ‘I saw you today, you better watch out’. There are descriptive things too [in the emails] such as what I’m wearing.
“They say I deserve to lose my arm, they want to cut off my other arm, I receive death threats. “
The biochemical engineering student, who is required to take time out of his degree to carry out his role as student president, said he has tried to make himself as “accessible as possible” to students.
Not only does this mean many people know who he is and approach him for help, he is also an easy target for trolls.
Raj said people assume he is from a certain culture or religion and abuse him as a result.
He said: “If something happens relating to people who are Muslim, I am somehow Muslim. If it relates to someone in the middle east, I am blamed. If an incident happens relating to Sikh people, I am blamed.
“Everything I seem to be doing at the students union is scrutinised and is somehow being related to me being the first international president, or being brown.”
Not only has Raj been a victim of abuse, he says many of his fellow students have too.
During events such as the Paris terror attacks or Orlando nightclub shootings, he said he receives up to three phone calls a day, mainly from female Muslim students concerned about abuse and their safety on campus.
He said the recent immigration ban by Donald Trump has also sparked concerns among minority students on campus.
Despite the problems, Raj says he loves his job and wants to raise awareness about the issues.
He added: “There is still denial from people about the extent of the problem..
“This is happening every other day to me, which is not as much as some other students.”
A spokeswoman for the university said: “The university has a zero tolerance to discrimination of any kind, including racism.”