Shutdown!

Kingston University Students' Union (KUSU) shut down the Christian Union's first major religious talk just one day before it was to be to be held.

The talk was cancelled following a misunderstanding between KUSU and KUCU, as to who was granted permission onto the university site. Hearsay that news of this 'public meeting' had leaked into the community led the university's health and safety advisers to draw up a risk assessment.

With 'public meeting' advertised on thousands of flyers, and accessible on KUCU's external website, it meant that KUSU: “can't take the risk because we don't know who's seen it. We can't control whose coming,” said Michelle Thorpe, Student Activities Coordinator. “It wasn't stated straight away that it was a public meeting – an oversight on my part.”

The assessment outlined that with no differentiation between students and outside guests, students would be at risk if trouble was to arise from “animated disagreements with the speaker”, Jay Smith, an expert in Islamic studies, which could only be countered with “16 security trained staff.”

It was these concerns that led for KUSU to cancel the event 30 hours before the meeting was to be held.

Helen Sheridan, who is heavily involved in student work for Fairfield Church, and a former engineering student at Kingston University said:“Everything is shut down with a bit of scaremongering. The consequence of not allowing this event to go ahead is effectively shutting down freedom of speech. It's subtle and people are not noticing it.”

This is now the second time Fairfield Church of Kingston have been stopped in hosting this event. An attempt earlier this year, under the title: What would Jesus say to Muhammad?, was ruined by fear that the debate would become volatile, causing the venue to pull the plug days before it was due to go ahead.

Helen said: “[It feels like] we can't get a venue that is prepared to deal with a topic like this.”
KUCU does have KUSU's support to hold this talk later this year. Suggestions to handle this scale of event are currently being discussed and a 'guest list only' measure could potentially be used to control numbers.

Michelle said: “From the content point of view there is no problem whatsoever. We want you to have and hold big events...We want our students to debate. We promote freedom of speech.”
She added that in this instance: “We had to make a decision and we needed to make it quickly.”

Mixed race girl in a mixed up world

I am mixed race. I am 20 years old and yet this fact has only been brought to my attention in the last few years. Not literally of course - the clues were growing up with my black father and white mother, but life is full of different events, people and attitudes.

Daily encounters shape our experiences and even our way of thinking. For the first time in my life, race is becoming increasingly important to me. Some could even argue that I am making it an issue; one bigger than it needs be. But, to me, I've never had the chance to discuss it - I have always accepted life as it comes - Occasionally, with negative remarks. Now, I believe it's become important to me because everywhere I look: in the news, at university, at work - it is subtly being brought to my attention that I am different, and that is what causes me to worry about who I am.

More stop and search for young black youths, non white students are potentially eligible for a 'journalism and diversity' bursary when doing the M.A. course (because oh look - it reflects badly on an institution if there isn't proportional representation of this multicultural society we call home) and in my part time job, I had to reassure a woman that I was in education and I did have prospects and ambition.

One of my white girl-friends recently got married to a black South African in the summer, but I was informed that her parents held the view that "inter-racial marriages don't work." I don't understand where this view could come from - they know who I am, and know that my parents are happily married together, after 25 years.

Laura Smith's report in the Society Guardian (26.09.07) draws on data from the 2001 census, to note that more than half of mixed race families are together (55%) , contrasting to popular assumption - perhaps reinforced by Little Britain stereotypes.

I agree with the researchers of this study - (Rosalind Edwards, a professor in social policy at South Bank University, and Chamion Caballero) that opposition to mix race families are not internal, but it is: "people outside that tend to have an issue with it...once a child starts school or comes into contact with the community, people's attitudes can be negative."

It was a decade after leaving my primary school that I was told by my mother, that the school bully complained that I was there - even inviting their parents to a school meeting with the head mistress. I forgot to mention that I was brought up in the 'whitest county', Devon.

I'm not sure about you, but in my family, I was brought up to believe that I was no different to anyone else - you look at someone and you see a person, a living, breathing personality. I was brought up not to judge on the factor of skin colour. With this strong belief, I am disappointed to say that I don't think I was educated enough about my beautiful heritage. I do not know all my facts and where I come from.

This contributes to my next point, raised by Smith, in that with one white parent, mixed race people can often question their authenticity of being black. My doubts of who I am continue to this very day. I remember at Freshers' Fayre, I saw the African Caribbean Society stand, and was so confused as to whether they had a membership criteria, I questioned whether I was black enough to join. Needless to say I did, coupled with the high of October's Black History Month, but I later slipped by the wayside, when a guest speaker a room full of black people and me, that black people should only be with black people for purity's sake, and anything other than that was simply subordinate.

This spurred the beginning of my mid life identity crisis, which shall no doubt continue, with other tales including - a conversation between my black flatmate (a) our new black friend (b) and myself (c):

b) [to (a)] where do you come from then?
a)I have Bejan roots
b) oh. OK. and you? [to (c)]
c) my dad is Jamaican and my mum is from Devon
b) Oh you're British then.
c) errr...yeah

I know this is a single view, and I cannot generalise, but it worries me that if I am considered second rate by the black community, then where can I rest safe?