Read on Twitter
I've been debating whether or not to make this thread for a very long time, but I think not making it is actually more harmful than not so, basically, I hated my college and never felt able to get involved
seeing people say colleges are the epicenter of Durham life is true, to an extent, but so many students (particularly those from marginalised backgrounds, feel they could never actually participate and engage in their college)
at my first college ball I made this tweet and this doesn't even come close to what I experienced at that ball, not only was I subject to a room full of white people cheering the election of Donald Trump, I was also assaulted ! https://twitter.com/sam_jja/status/877504011846463488?s=19
during fresher's week and for about a month after I felt so unsafe I told very few people I was gay, I was kicked out of my fresher's friend group for calling out homophobia, one man during fresher's drunkenly told me I sounded 'rough' on THREE SEPARATE OCCASIONS
i watched the Trump election in college, I had one fellow student openly point at me and laugh as I cried, nobody said anything.
when I arrived in fresher's it felt like everyone already knew each other (turns out a lot of them did because London private schools be like that), siblings had been to the college, a lot of those people knew people in years above and went on to hold exec positions
some people of colour, some LGBT+ people and some disabled people feel they can get involved with their college community but for every story of one person who managed to make it work, I know at least five who couldn't
because I didn't fit in at my college I made other friends from other colleges, through student groups. At the end of my first year I ran to be the VP of the LGBT+ Association, explicitly running on a platform of helping students who came from less inclusive colleges like mine.
Before I decided to run to be an SU trustee at the end of my second year I wouldn't have even considered myself to be an 'SU person' I was just someone who had found solace in the LGBT+ association and worked hard to support it
As VP and then President of the association I introduced a parenting scheme to help to strengthen the community in Durham, it's still running and is successful!!
The idea that somehow I, or students like me (people of colour, LGBT+ people), are less qualified to be student representatives because we never felt able to get involved in our colleges and so directed our energies to student groups and organisations is a kick in the teeth
to now see the same dynamics that I experienced in my college that made me so unwelcome played out over social media, makes me regret never saying anything and never challenging the idea that all students feel at home with their college
but I'm sick of it, I'm sick of being afraid to talk about my experiences, I'm sick of hearing the same stories over and over from fellow students of colour and nobody ever feeling safe enough to speak up because they know how hostile the response will be
(this is also before we even go into just HOW EXPENSIVE the college experience is!! I could only afford to go to one college ball a year because it would set me back ÂŁ150 at least, and lord knows if you didn't dress correctly you'd over hear someone slagging you off)
