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Equality and Diversity

May 20th, 2014

The week that was…

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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Equality and Diversity

May 20th, 2014

The week that was…

0 comments

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

In today’s ‘The week that was’: survey reveals academic staff don’t discuss mental health problems with colleagues or managers, Columbia students name and shame sexual assault violators, racism exists in the discrete institutional marginalisation of ethnic minorities and men underrepresented in nursing, education and social work.

The Guardian’s survey of 2,500 academic staff reveals that academics are suffering in silence from mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and eating disorders. 61% of the respondents said that none of their colleagues are aware of their mental health problems, with only a slight difference in the figures for men and women. 66% said they have not spoken to someone in a senior position, such as a line manager or research supervisor, about their mental health problems.

Students at Columbia are reported to have written names of alleged ‘sexual assault violators’ in a women’s bathroom on the Columbia campus. This follows closely on the heels of students filing a complaint against Columbia University for mishandling reports of sexual assault cases. They have accused the university of burying cases so as not to be known as a campus plagued by sexual assault, prioritising reputation over the safety of its students.

Over the last few weeks, incidents of racism involving the likes of Donald Sterling, manager of the LA Clippers basketball team, and TV host Jeremy Clarkson, have been in the news. Gary Younge, writing for the Guardian, says that highlighting such incidents sets the bar for racism very high: “By privileging these episodes – outrageous as they are – racism is basically reduced to the level of a private, individual indiscretion made public. The scandal becomes not that racism exists but that anyone would be crass enough to articulate it so brazenly. The reality of modern racism is almost exactly the opposite: it’s the institutional marginalisation of groups performed with the utmost discretion and minimum of fuss by well-mannered and often well-intentioned people working in deeply flawed systems.”

While nationally efforts are being made to increase the representation of women in science subjects at university, is enough being done to address the underrepresentation of men in nursing, education and social work? Mary Curnock Cook, chief executive of UCAS, says, “Female dominance of the entire population in universities is an issue. But I’m not aware of any campaigns in the way that there are for women in computer science and Stem subjects.” The Equality Challenge Unit, due to launch a gender equality charter mark later this year, have said they expect the charter mark to cover underrepresentation of men in certain academic disciplines.

Have something to add? Write to us – Equality.and.Diversity@lse.ac.uk

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Equality and Diversity

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