Oxford porters should be given 'unconscious bias' training, amid claims that they target black students

Oxford porters should be given “unconscious bias” training, the students’ union has said, amid claims that they assume black students are trespassing when they enter College grounds.

The university’s students’ union has published their Liberation Vision document, which recommends that porters should also be trained in how to respond to reports of sexual violence and mental health issues among students.

The Liberation Vision document says that and cleaners, known as “scouts”, tutors, supervisors and senior tutors should also partake in the training.

The move follows a series of complaints about porters unfairly targeting black students and singling them out for questioning about why they have entered College grounds.

Each Oxford College employs a team of porters who work out of the Porters’ lodge which is at the entrance of the college grounds.

Their role differs slightly from college to college, but it generally involves controlling entry to the College and providing a degree of security by challenging potential trespassers about their purpose on the grounds.

Last year an Oxford college sent an email to students telling them to be “vigilant” because a black man was seen walking through college grounds.

Harris Manchester College was accused of “despicable” double standards for urging undergraduates to “alert a member of staff” if the man is seen again - while white students and graduates frequently “wander around college” without triggering safety alerts.

Femi Nylander, who had graduated from Oxford the previous summer after reading philosophy, politics and economics (PPE), said the email was an example of the university’s “institutional racism” and he called on the College to apologise.

He said he had also been stopped and asked for identity documents by porters at Brasenose College and Magdalene College on his way to tutorials, and at St Hilda’s College where he had a play rehearsal.

The university’s Campaign for Racial Awareness and Equality (CRAE) said at the time that the incident was illustrative of a wider problem of “black students being seen as other, as security threats, as a danger”.

“Black students are seen as outsiders, not the kind of person you see here or would want to see here. They are treated with hostility,” a spokesperson for CRAE said.

Donald Brown, a Rhodes scholar, said that during his time at Oxford he and two friends were stopped by Christ Church porters and asked if they were “construction workers” when on college grounds.

Writing about his experiences for Times Higher Education magazine in 2015, he said: "Another time I was with two white visitors from the US. They were allowed entry without question, yet I, the Christ Church scholar, was again asked to show my university card."

Christ Church said it works hard to “train staff about unconscious bias” adding that it strengthened procedures since an incident in 2014.

A spokesperson for Harris Manchester College said they sent the email after being informed of an “unidentified person” on the grounds.

“We have occasionally issued similar emails in the past when other unidentified people have entered the College,” the spokesperson said.

An Oxford spokesman said that the university is “absolutely committed to creating the most diverse and inclusive atmosphere possible for our students and staff. We know this is an important issue which our colleges take very seriously.”

The university said it already offers training for staff in cultural awareness and unconscious bias, and many colleges do the same.