Nothing like enough

In the days following the murder of George Floyd we saw genuinely shocking images of his death, images that rippled round the world and set in train a period of reflection for many in our society, in our institutions and HR teams, writes Naina Patel, HR Director at the University of the Arts, London. Under the #BlackLivesMatter banner students and staff have said they find universities as institutions to be racist. They point to attainment gaps, to flawed promotion paths and recruitment processes, to a lack of representation of BAME colleagues at senior levels, to an inability to manage fast and effective complaints procedures, and to their lack of confidence in systems big and small that underpin the way our universities run.

They point to white privilege. They doubt expressions of solidarity, claiming these words are designed to smooth over a bump. They tell us we’ve had the time we asked for and question why the change has still not come. They watch and learn from others. They see a 22-year-old black footballer achieving change to government policy through a clear statement of his life experience that resonates powerfully across the country.

It’s both a coincidence of timing and very much not a coincidence of timing that this wave of the #BlackLivesMatter protests are happening at the same time as the Covid-19 pandemic. In both the US and the UK it is BAME communities that have been hit hardest by the coronavirus, whether on the nursing frontline, in public service blue collar roles far from the relative safety of home working, or in the poorest parts of our cities and towns, from London’s worst-hit borough of Newham and out around the country. There is huge emotional strain for all of us at the moment. That two such huge issues should run together with each other this summer is hugely difficult for BAME communities, who see injustice, experience inequalities, and feel the imperative for change has increased to a whole new level.

How do we focus to meet that imperative for change? Covid-19 simultaneously brings the need for quick decisions and sometimes a matching inability to move as quickly as we were used to – how do we harness the current energy and get results, fast?

The UUK group on tackling racial harassment, which I am part of and represent UHR in that capacity, is doing good work in this area. The aim is to issue new guidance to universities. There will be no sector-wide prescriptive solutions. Instead, institutions will be encouraged to develop their own plans and improve upon the ones already in place. Workstreams within the UUK group have looked at issues facing students and at issues facing staff. I’ve been in the sector long enough to know that this isn’t all new, and it can seem frustrating to many that long-standing issues have not been resolved and instead need “looking at again”. The UUK group is planning to share the new guidance together with a supporting set of case studies guiding universities towards good practice. Perhaps we’ll conclude we need to go further, and be stronger in one or more aspects of this work. We meet again this week, and through UHR I’ll keep you posted.

HR teams are natural allies to those seeking change. We know about the importance to our universities of operating within a set of values that we are proud to uphold, that there are ethical frameworks to value as well as legal and procedural ones. It has been the work of the last generation to get more support, and rightly so, for all those with protected characteristics including BAME colleagues. But the current protests tell us we need to seriously reflect on how far we’ve got and pick up the pace of change as we’ve done nothing like enough.

Naina Patel is the HR Director at the University of the Arts, London, leads the UHR M25 region, and is also UHR’s Vice Chair-elect.