On 2 June 2020 UCL released a statement of support towards the BAME* community. The statement pledges to tackle racial inequality in the context of coronavirus, and lists five areas of focus for that action. However, the statement’s general pro-diversity message dilutes the concerns of the Black community and the Black Lives Matter movement, which is currently mobilising worldwide. The statement also does not provide educational resources to students and staff, such as anti-racism reading lists, donation links, petitions and more. Many students believe that the original statement of support should have emphasised UCL’s commitment to supporting its Black students and staff in particular, given the circumstances under which it was released.

Today, on 19 June, UCL held a town hall on race, and also announced the denaming of its buildings named after famous eugenicists. We would like to acknowledge the work of both previous and ongoing antiracism initiatives at UCL, which have been pushing for years for change - we must ensure UCL continues to act, and goes further in combatting racial inequality.

We highlight below five steps forward, which would demonstrate UCL’s continued commitment to diversity and inclusion:

1. In decolonising the curriculum, commit to efforts in:

• As per the Decolonising UCL initiative, implementing policy that ensures that faculty design their courses to:
  • Recognise the value of non-Western academic achievements and research.
  • Recognise contributions of local and indigenous people’s knowledge to Western discoveries abroad.
  • Highlight the work of, and employ more, Black researchers - and make sure they are securely employed and compensated.
• Reforming the curriculum across all departments to more fairly represent the research of non-white academics.
• Regulating fees for international students, who deserve equal access to education at UCL.
• Establishing local Decolonise Networks within departments, allowing staff and students to collaboratively review course materials. 
  • Students and staff must be supported in this work, and student representatives equipped to facilitate it (via toolkits, funding for events, training, etc.)
  • A paid, permanent decolonising faculty team should be employed to lead these efforts.

2. Strengthen Access & Widening participation programs and embed this work across the curriculum, by: 

• Committing to transparent and concrete action to tackle the Black Awarding Gap by making this an institutional priority and embedding it within existing accountability frameworks and committees (quality assurance, ASER, Education Committee, etc.). This progress should be reported annually, and in line with the ICH.
• Putting the views of current students at the centre of the outreach and asking for their input in how the programs should run. Establish a steering group allowing students to influence the work in Access & Widening participation. 
• Providing extra academic support options for first year undergraduates to ensure that all students have the chance to start their studies at UCL from the same point, without disadvantaging those from comprehensive schools.

3. Push for transparency, action and accountability in relation to the Eugenics Inquiry and the recommendations laid out by the board as in the final report. 

• Publish UCL’s plan to act on the recommendations from the Eugenics Inquiry with an oversight group that consists of staff and students, along with a clear timeline for action.
• Continue efforts to de-name and rename UCL’s amenities named after eugenicists by renaming the Petrie Museum (named after the eugenicist and racist Flinders Petrie.)
• Urge UCL staff to explicitly address and reject the views of eugenicists when teaching or discussing their contributions to science.
• Run a sensitive and comprehensive lecture for all incoming students and staff on the history of Eugenics at UCL, similar to the one given to Natural Sciences students by Subhadra Das in September 2019.
• UCL must publicly face, and educate its students and staff, on the damaging legacy of British colonialism, and the ways in which this history informs present-day British culture and institutions. 

4. Push for quality, tailored welfare support and reporting procedures at UCL. A number of students have been on mental health support waiting lists for months, and the number of staff that can meet these needs is insufficient. 

• Commit to enacting an inclusive SCPS hiring process, focusing on diversity and staff trained in culturally competent and intercultural therapy. 
• Urge staff to be mindful of their duty to care for students. Incidents of dismissiveness, unfair grading, or unfair exclusion must not be tolerated. 
• Create clear guidelines on racial harassment at UCL, and reform the reporting and response process, with statistics and developments reported on and evaluated annually. 
  • Ensure that all students are aware of and have access to reporting procedures for racial harassment, with timely action. 
  • Any student who reports harassment of any kind should also be entitled to effective support and restorative measures.

5. Support the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) chapter at UCL, and their calls to bring more workers in-house. 

• UCL is failing its outsourced workers and security officers, the majority of whom are BME*. Their most recent demands are laid out here. By ignoring their voices, UCL is perpetuating the racial inequality it has pledged to fight against.
• Present a clear plan for insourcing and parity. Outsourced staff should not be treated with disregard as they are an essential part of our community. 
• Ensure representation of outsourced staff on the Race Equality Steering group and other relevant UCL committees by including them in the conversation.  

We, the undersigned, believe the actions named above would help make a safer space for Black students and workers. We demand a transparent, continued anti-racism effort and commitment on the part of UCL, as these changes are not instant, and must become part of the fabric of the institution. We also ask that you enact these changes in an environmentally responsible manner, paperless; that the University’s sustainability commitments take on environmental justice work. Black communities and the Global South are disproportionately affected by climate change and its effects, and the fight for the planet is also a fight for these communities. Race intersects with issues of class, gender, health, and identity - the entire UCL community would benefit from these changes, and we urge you to consider our demands.

We would also like to direct UCL staff and students to additionally read and sign this open letter, written by UCL alumni with the guidance of The Free Black University, which calls for UCL to address their involvement in systemic racism, and to provide support for Black students, staff, and the wider Black community. UCL’s students, both current and former, are calling for change, and so we would like to highlight the importance of signing both in order to put even more pressure on UCL leadership to enact change.

*We recognise that no term to describe ‘non-white races or ethnicities’ is perfect - whether it is BME (Black and Minority Ethnic), BAME (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic), People of Colour or ‘non-white’.