“There are no real policies, I know there was an email address to contact but I’m not sure they would work because I feel the staff are not well- versed with dealing with issues like that.” This was particularly believed to be the case where staff diversity did not reflect student diversity. “It’s hard to take indirect racism seriously when most members of staff are White. They don’t understand the gravity. There is also the problem of relying on proof to address situations. Even if they say they would chase it up, you don’t hear back.” Reporting a traumatic experience takes courage and having to repeatedly retell stressful events is itself another form of trauma. The lack of trust that Black students have in reporting mechanisms is not of their making; they have direct, and some have intergenerational, knowledge of peers who have been worn down and ultimately defeated by racism, withdrawing from or failing academic courses. Living Black at University 34 Living Black at University 35 5.2 CONFIDENCE IN POLICIES AND PROCEDURES Some students felt reluctant to make use of the reporting procedures because they feared they would be judged as overreacting. “In the incidents where I have felt racially targeted, it was very difficult to make a complaint without feeling like I’m crazy or making a big deal out of nothing.” Sometimes this was informed by witnessing poor experiences of using the procedures, leading to a low level of trust in their effectiveness. “I witnessed a number of incidents that did involve race and the reaction was to gaslight 15 the victim.” “Students who were caught smoking weed was taken much more seriously [than racism]. I don’t think there were any good policies in place.” Where there was low confidence in the competence of staff to deal with issues of racism, this affected trust in the policies. 15 ‘ Gaslighting ’ is defined as manipulating someone psychologically to cause them to doubt their own sanity. It derives from the 1944 film Gaslight in which a man tricks his wife into believing she is delusional. 5.3 SUMMARY AND KEY FINDINGS While the survey shows a reasonable overall level of awareness of policies and procedures, Black students trust these procedures less than White students. There is a gap between having policies and procedures and putting them into practice. Students identified limitations relating to specific gaps in policy. There were also examples of poor responses to students who used the policies, suggesting a need for greater training and awareness among staff. 7 Black students are not always aware of policies and procedures relating to racism in their accommodation, or these policies and procedures do not exist. 8 T here are low levels of trust among Black students in the processes that sit behind anti-racist strategies. Most of the students in the focus groups reported that there were no effective policies and procedures to promote racial diversity and inclusion and to tackle racism, and that this was because it is not a priority for those making policies. “There aren’t many policies or procedures in place in my accommodation promoting racial diversity, apart from posters in the common room.” Together with the free text comments in the survey, their analysis sheds light on the limitations of current policies in practice within the accommodation setting. In some cases, the lack of effective policy was attributed to a perceived organisational need for neutrality, or what is sometimes referred to as ‘institutional colour-blindness’. “I find that my accommodation is seeking neutrality, therefore it tends to omit things like positive racial messages in order to avoid offence. Consequently, it feels like there’s no support to students like me who worry about experiencing such things.” Some pointed to specific gaps in policy and procedures in terms of their focus on specific issues (such as bullying and harassment) or that the policies do not apply to accommodation. Others reported a gap between policy and practice. “Although there are policies and procedures in place on how to deal with racism and action against it, it feels like they are just advertising those policies and procedures and not practising what they are preaching.” 5.1 POLICY EFFECTIVENESS