Understanding Racism
Strategy 2025 sets out the University’s commitment to be led by equality, diversity and inclusivity in creating a culture where everyone can succeed.
UWS has pledged its commitment to act against racism in all its forms by signing up to the sector-wide Declaration:
Defining Racial Harassment and Racism
The Equality Act 2010
The Equality Act 2010 states that harassment is unwanted behaviour related to a person’s relevant protected characteristic(s), of which race is one, having the purpose or effect of:
- violating the other person's dignity, or
- creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that person.
Racial harassment can take many different forms, from verbal abuse and physical attacks, to subtle racial micro-aggressions, or everyday racial slights and degradations. Simply put, racial harassment is an expression of racism.
The UWS Race Equality Working Group define racism as “the assignment of people to an inferior category and the determination of their social, economic, civic, and human standing on that basis.” (Ref: Tommy J. Curry, The Man-Not: Race, Class, Genre, and the Dilemmas of Black Manhood, 2017)
They also recognise the definitions of racism and racial harassment adopted by the Advance HE project steering group on Addressing racial harassment in colleges and universities which expresses racism as a persistent, if not routine and systematic, feature of life in Britain, as contributing to the organisation of society in ways that structurally disadvantage Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people, and as experienced in a wide variety of ways, ranging from everyday banter to violence and intimidation, noting the prevalence of anti-Muslim racism (islamophobia), antisemitism, and anti-Black and anti-Asian racism.
The statement draws on Ashe and Nazroo’s (2016) framing of institutional racism, and further unpacking of this concept by Young (in Davidson et al., 2018), to contextualise the power relationships in institutions that lead to racism, such as the creation of rules, customs, processes and practices created without regard to the potential impact on people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups, and decision making within institutions that reflects the preferences, priorities, social norms, values and needs of the decision makers.
Reporting Racial Harassment
UWS is committed to providing the highest level of service for its students and members of the public who may have contact with the University. However, the University recognises that, on occasion, issues or concerns may be raised by staff, students or members of the public.
At UWS we promote equality and diversity in everything we do. As an inclusive university we extend our commitment to everyone – regardless of background or protected characteristics such as age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, marital status, ethnicity, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.
We respect and welcome diversity and do not tolerate exclusion, harassment or victimisation in any form.
Report + Support
Report + Support is an online tool where staff and students can report issues of bullying and harassment, assault, sexual misconduct, hate crimes and discrimination of any sort anonymously or by reporting with contact details so that a UWS adviser can provide support. You can report an incident here.
Report + Support is also home to information about internal and external support. You can find out more about the support available on our support page
You can find out more about Report and Support in the following short video:
General Guidance
Staff or students who perceive they have been treated unfairly in respect of a protected characteristic are encouraged to seek local resolution at an early stage.
Staff should normally speak to their line manager in the first instance. Alternatively, advice can be sought from the People and Organisational Development Department, Equality Diversity and Inclusion Consultant or relevant Trade Union.
Students should normally speak to their Personal Tutor in the first instance. Alternatively, advice can be sought from the Students’ Union, Student Services, the Disability Service or Equality Diversity and Inclusion Consultant.
If a local resolution cannot be achieved, members of staff may wish to raise a grievance - further information is set out in the University’s Grievance Resolution Procedure which is available on the UWS website.
Students can formally raise concerns through the University’s Complaints Process - a Complaints Form and supporting guidance is available here.
Visitors and members of the public who have a concern or complaint are encouraged to raise it with the School, Professional Services Department or Partner Institution in which the issue arose.
If a local resolution cannot be achieved, visitors and members of the public can submit a complaint to Registry - a Complaints Form and supporting guidance is available here. British Sign Language (BSL) users can contact us directly by using contact SCOTLAND-BSL Telephone: +44 (0)141 848 3000.
Support for Complainants
Everyone has the right to equal access to our complaints procedure. It is important to recognise the barriers that some people may face complaining, which may be physical, sensory, communication or language barriers but can also include their anxieties and concerns. Complainants may need support to overcome these barriers.
We have legal duties to ensure our complaints service is accessible under equalities and mental health legislation. We will therefore be proactive in checking whether complainants require additional support to access our service.
In addition to our legal duties, we will seek to ensure that we support vulnerable groups in accessing our complaints procedure. Actions that we may take include:
- helping vulnerable people identify when they might wish to make a complaint (for example, by training frontline staff who provide services to vulnerable groups)
- helping complainants access independent support or advocacy to help them understand their rights and communicate their complaints (for example, through the Scottish Independent Advocacy Alliance or Citizen’s Advice Scotland)
- providing a neutral point of contact for complaints (where the relationship between complainants and frontline staff is significant and ongoing)
Additional information can be found here.
UWS Race Equality Working Group
Terms of Reference
Aim of the Group
The aim of the Race Equality Working Group is to guide and support the University to act against racism by developing and implementing anti-racism practices and actively promoting race equality within UWS.
Objectives for 2020-21
- To guide and support UWS staff and students to engage in critical conversations on race and racism which will develop their racial literacy and a nuanced understanding of race, racism, whiteness, privilege and intersectionality
- To support the decolonisation of UWS in relation to the curriculum and the environment
- To help UWS implement the Anti-Racist framework developed by the Advance HE Project Steering Group to address the findings of EHRC Report – Tackling Racism, Universities Challenged 2019, and to prepare for a future Advance HE Race Equality Charter submission
- To develop, monitor and report on progress of Key Performance Indicators in relation to race equality
- To raise awareness of the University’s commitment to race equality through communications and development of peer support networks and allyship
- To support the development and implementation of activities to identify, celebrate and recognise success in promoting racial equality
Membership of Race Equality Working Group
- Senior EDI Champion
- Representative from People & OD
- Representatives from BME Staff network
- Representatives from the Students’ Union/ student body (UG and PG)
- Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Adviser
- Representative from Student Services
Reporting
The Race Equality Working Group report to the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
Resources to Tackle Racism
New resources, designed to help tackle the issue of racism on university and college campuses, were unveiled at a national equality and diversity conference.
Following the publication of the EHRC Inquiry into racism on publicly funded universities SFC asked Advance HE to deliver a programme of work on behalf of SFC to develop resources that would support colleges and universities to recognise and address racism on campus.
They worked with Advance HE to set up a steering group to direct the development of resources so that this work would benefit from the expertise and lived experience of a diverse range of staff and students working and studying across our colleges and universities. Information about the steering group and the Tackling Racism on Campus project can be found on the Advance HE website.
Tackling racism documents and assets
View the Tackling Racism on Campus Race Equality Brand Guidelines that accompany the assets.
Print materials and publications
Advance HE A3 Posters
Advance HE Declaration
Advance HE Declaration (Gaelic)
Advance HE Microaggressions
Advance HE Race Literacy Glossary
Advance HE Statement
Advance HE Reporting Guidance
Advance HE Scottish Code
Advance HE: The Tackling Racism Diagnostic Tool
Digital and social media assets
Facebook assets
Instagram assets
Linkedin assets
Twitter assets
Anti-racist Ally Stamp (email footer)
Anti-racist Ally Stamp
Advance HE Blog
Advance HE Presentation
Advance HE Webpage assets
Videos
Call It Racism videos
Call It Racism animation
Call It Racism video
Call It Racism video (Black and White)
British Sign Language videos
You can view British Sign Language (BSL) videos of Advance HE’s Race Declaration and Race Statement below:
Race Declaration (black background)
Race Declaration (red background)
Race Statement (black background)
Race Statement (red background)
Staff and Student Development and Training
There are a range on online e-learning modules available to enable staff and students to better understand racism and wider equality, diversity and inclusion matters.
To access equality, diversity and inclusion courses (staff)
In MyUWS (log into MyUWS using your 8 digit Active Directory number and usual password). This page is for all staff and contains short online courses from Skillboosters.
To access equality, diversity and inclusion courses (students)
In MyUWS (log into MyUWS using your Banner ID and usual password). This page is for all students and contains short online courses from Skillboosters.
Last updated: 01/10/2021