Students from northern England facing 'toxic attitude' at Durham University

Students from northern England are being ridiculed over their accents and backgrounds at one of the country’s leading universities, and even forced out, according to a report compiled by a Durham student.

Lauren White, 20, is demanding action after interviews with fellow northern students at Durham revealed a “toxic attitude” towards them from some peers and tutors. Its vice-chancellor said her report highlighted unacceptable behaviours at odds with the university’s values and that the findings would be looked into.

Last year a freedom of information request revealed that on average 7.8% of graduates over the last five years from Durham University – one of the country’s best-rated institutions – were from the north-east England.

Two years ago, White, who grew up 15 miles from Durham and is in her third year, found herself in this minority. She said discrimination and ridiculing of her local roots began almost immediately.

“At first when they mocked and mimicked my accent, I sort of went along with it, even laughed, but then when I persistently became the butt of jokes about coalmining and started to get called feral because I was local it started to feel malicious,” she said.

White, who eventually moved back home to Gateshead because of the bullying, added: “I felt like I was forced out because it was constant. I wrote an article about my experience and it snowballed and I got inundated with messages from other students saying they had experienced the same as me and some even said they were too scared to speak out in seminars for fear of being ridiculed.”

She decided to take action and compiled A Report on Northern Student Experience at Durham University, claiming the culture did little to protect students from harassment.

One student originally from Liverpool, who graduated in 2017, said she had to seek counselling because of bullying over her roots. “I had the most horrendous time there [at Durham]. I’m from a working-class background. I was reminded of this every single day,” she said.

The student had attended a summer school run by the Sutton Trust, which encourages people from lower socio-economic backgrounds to go into higher education.

She said: “Straight away this became a running joke of the class, that I was a token there. I was told repeatedly that the only reason I was at Durham was because my family were on benefits (my family have worked all their lives). I was accused of stealing, I was told I would never get a job because of the way I speak, I was told that I was a waste of a worthy student’s place. I received this from students and staff alike.”

She said the bullying also went on beyond the lecture theatre. “Another thing I remember is ‘rolling in the muck’. It was a thing a lot of students would say referring to them sleeping with a northern working-class person. I remember there being nights dedicated to [this] where sports teams or societies would go out to try and get with northern working-class people.”

University student ambassador Jack Lines also reported being belittled. “On a night out, I was approached by a female student who said that she would sleep with me as she had a ‘poverty fetish’, and asked me to start a fight to impress her as ‘that’s what you people do, you fight whenever you get drunk,’” he said.

The student, who has been refused entry to college bars by staff who didn’t believe he studied at the university, added: “In the college dining hall I have been called a ‘dirty northerner’, and a ‘chav’... A fellow student asked me: ‘Are you going to take the spare food home to feed your family?’

“I have worked for the university for two years as a student ambassador. On multiple occasions, people from my college have photographed me working on campus and have then sent these photos into group chats to make fun of me as I have to work to support myself financially during my degree.”

White is urging the university to sign up to five pledges including providing support groups for students from the region and those from disadvantaged backgrounds and to include background in the Student Pledge as a characteristic which all students should respect and have no prejudice towards.

Since publishing her report, White has met Durham’s vice-chancellor, Prof Stuart Corbridge, who said in a statement: “We believe that everyone has the right to study and work in an environment that is respectful and where people feel comfortable to be themselves and to flourish … In the short time since receiving the report, Lauren and I have agreed both that her report will be considered by [our] respect commission oversight group and that we will meet shortly to discuss her findings further.”

Last month the university launched an inquiry after wealthy prospective freshers reportedly planned a competition to have sex with the poorest student they could find.

In a separate case, Mirabelle Otuoze, 19, who moved to Durham from London to study Russian and French, said she had suffered racial slurs since starting at the university. It said her experiences were “unacceptable” and racism “has no place” at Durham.