Cambridge academic goes on strike after claiming porter's refusal to call her 'Doctor' is racist

A Cambridge academic has gone on strike after claiming that a porter’s refusal to call her “doctor” is racist.

Dr Priyamvada Gopal, a fellow specialising in postcolonial literature, is refusing to teach students at King’s College after experiencing what she described as “consistently racist aggression and profiling” from the college’s porters.

The lecturer announced her decision after an altercation with a porter on Monday.

She described on Twitter how she told him: "Please address me as Dr Gopal", to which the porter responded: "I don't care who you are."

"He then launched into a tirade about how people treat him," Dr Gopal said. "I am sorry but my brown body isn't taking the hit for that. He'd never talk like this to actual white men who behave badly."

She described how she then repeatedly asked the “all white, all male” porters to address her as “Dr Gopal”, but they instead insisted on calling her “Madam”.

Dr Gopal, who is from India, said: “With deep regret but with 17 years of consideration behind it, I have finally decided on my behalf and of other people of colour at Cambridge University to refuse to supervise any students at King’s College.”

She went on to say: “Enough is enough of the consistently racist profiling and aggression by porters”, adding that “hundreds of stories abound over the years … If you can’t be polite to me at the gate, I can’t do any work for you.”

King’s College said it had investigated the matter and found "no wrongdoing on the part of our staff".

Dr Gopal’s remarks quickly sparked a backlash, with fellow academics saying that her demand to be addressed as “Dr” was unreasonable.  

Dr Chris Kavanagh, an anthropologist at Oxford University, said it is “not that common in the UK to refer in everyday situations to academics as ‘Dr’”, adding: “Almost no one refers to me as Dr Kavanagh but that doesn’t mean they are anti-Irish.”

Dr Gopal has built a reputation as a strident left-wing activist, using her Twitter account to lambast fellow academics.  

A vocal critic of the legacy of the British Empire, she labelled Oxford’s Professor Nigel Biggar as “Rev Bigot” after he suggested that Britain should have “pride” for some elements of its imperial history.  

She said that Prof Biggar’s Ethics and Empire project had “white supremacist underpinnings”, describing his words as “vomit”.  

She went on to brand race relations campaigner Trevor Phillips as a “toady who flourishes by shafting other people of colour” after he came out in support of Prof Biggar.

She also attacked fellow Cambridge academic Mary Beard, accusing her of “casual patrician racism” during a row over the Oxfam child abuse scandal.  

Dr Gopal's comments were in response to the television historian's suggestion that it could be hard to “sustain ‘civilised’ values in a disaster zone”.  

King’s College, Cambridge, said in a statement: “We have investigated the incident and found no wrongdoing on the part of our staff.

“Every visitor was asked to show their card during the course of that day, as the College was closed to everyone except King’s members.

“Non-members such as Dr Gopal were asked to take alternatives routes, around the College.”

“This was a matter of procedure, not discrimination.

“King’s College is a rich and diverse community, and take the wellbeing of its students and staff extremely seriously. We remain committed to being an inclusive and welcoming environment in which to work and study.

“We categorically deny that the incident referred to was in any way racist.”

Dr Gopal told The Daily Telegraph: "I have always been addressed as Dr Gopal by new acquaintances or members of other departments when they first get in touch with me and as far as I am aware, that is the norm. 

"'Madam' is extremely unusual. It is also unusual not to address someone by the mode of address they have requested."

She added that the porter addressing her as "Madam" is just one part of the "ongoing racialised aggression" she has experienced. 

The university refused to be drawn on whether Dr Gopal’s boycott breached the terms of her employment contract.

Earlier this year, Oxford University’s student union urged college porters to be given “unconscious bias” training to combat racism.  

It followed claims that porters routinely assumed black students were trespassers when they walked through college grounds.  

In February last year, Harris Manchester College in Oxford sparked a race row after authorities circulated a CCTV image of black student Femi Nylander, apparently assuming he was a trespasser.