Whatever your gender, sexuality, nationality and background, you can be part of our Why Is My Curriculum White campaign - and it will only take 60 seconds!
What do I need to do?
Copy and paste the text below into an email from you UEA email account, edit the first sentence to make the information correct for you, and send it to David Richardson, UEA's Vice-Chancellor, at [email protected] with the subject header "Why is my curriculum white?".
Dear David,
My name is ________; I am a 1st/2nd/3rd/4th/PGT/PGR student studying __________.
I'm writing to you because, as a student, I deserve the chance to study a diverse, inclusive and globalized curriculum. But at UEA, this isn't happening.
Much of my academia revolves around studying particular types of theorists or authors: those who are classically white, stale and male. It is about time this changed! In order to get the most out of my £30k tuition fees, I would love to study more women and non-binary authors; more authors who define as LGBT+; more BME authors; more culture; and ultimately more diversity. I deserve to leave UEA with a rounded and inclusive knowledge of my subject with opportunity to learn it from different points of view and perspectives beyond the white, stale and male.
This, however, should be much more than a tokenistic approach. Whilst representation is important, lack of inclusion of certain narratives within our curriculum is affecting the welfare, attainment and retention of students; with a disproportionate trend seen in students of those liberation groups previously mentioned. UEA's statistics obtained via the Freedom of Information act show that there has been, and still is, a massive gap in the difference between BME and White student achievement here: in 2011/12 there was nearly 30% difference between white students achieving a 2:1 or above and the same figure for 2015/16 was still at 18%. With some UEA seminars including content in this very institution in which students are debating "to what extent was slavery just a business" you can begin to understand the trends in BME attainment at UEA.
Inclusivity and diverse narratives are therefore vital to be encouraged by senior members of UEA. I would like you, as Vice-Chancellor, to lead on this and promise that you will work with staff to encourage more modern, representative curricula across all fields of study. Equality and Diversity needs to be an integral part of my learning!
Yours sincerely,