Oxford porters stop me because of my skin colour, says senior don
THE dean of Oxford University’s law faculty has revealed that porters have questioned whether she has the right to enter college, as she calls for more antiracism training.
Prof Mindy Chen-wishart, who is from Taiwan, said she was challenged by porters “all the time” when entering Oxford colleges, adding that it happens “so frequently that I would normally never even register it”.
She said it is both “alienating” and “exhausting” to be constantly challenged for looking “out of place”.
“This happens a lot in Oxford,” Prof Chen-wishart said.
“Every time you get into a college you have to get past porters, facilities managers, whatever. People of colour are challenged or searched.
“People will always say they are just doing their job. I would really like to understand why they are so good at doing their job when people of colour are concerned.”
Prof Chen-wishart, an expert in contract law, described how an incident a few weeks ago prompted her to become more vocal on the issue of race and launch a social media campaign.
She said that as she was entering her office in the law faculty, a building manager asked her who she had an appointment with. When Prof Chen-wishart told him that she was the dean of the faculty, the manager said he “forgot” and proceeded to follow her to her office. She said she “pretended not to notice” this, adding that she assumed it was to ensure she could “corroborate” her account by having the right key.
“It just goes to show that it doesn’t matter who you are, you will be queried,” she said. “Each of these incidents seems small but it’s exhausting.”
She said that senior officials at Oxford are increasingly aware of the importance of diversity and inclusion, adding that a pro vice-chancellor recently interviewed her about her experiences at the university as a person of colour.
“I know Oxford is very keen to do something about race and I am very keen to engage with them but only if they actually want to do something,” she said.
Prof Chen-wishart, who is also a tutorial fellow at Merton College, has sent a series of proposals to the pro vice-chancellor on how to foster a more inclusive atmosphere at the university.
These include more robust anti-racist training to be rolled out to Oxford’s support staff, in particular facility managers and porters.
A spokesman for Oxford University said: “The university does not tolerate any form of racial harassment or victimisation and expects all members of the university community to treat each other with respect, courtesy and consideration.”