Living Black at University Commission Report 2022/23 48 Living Black at University Commission Report 2022/23 49 As lead researcher on the Living Black at University project, I was sceptical before the report was published that it would be well received by the higher education sector. However, my fears were allayed once the report came out: the response was amazing. There was an immediate appetite to do something about the issues, despite the almost universal initial shock to the findings that Black students were having such a tough time in their accommodation. Many universities and PBSA providers took on the challenge of improving the experiences of their Black students. One of the most difficult findings to remedy was the lack of trust, because there has been a breakdown of trust over such a long time. We found that when it comes to reporting issues of discrimination, micro-aggressions and micro-exclusions, Black students did not trust the reporting processes. We found that some universities and PBSA providers were slow in responding to these complaints, and others did not even have clear systems by which these incidents could be reported. Building trust will take time and effort – so the challenge now is to ensure that the momentum is not lost before progress is made. As we saw with Black Lives Matter, once the topic is no longer a news headline it seems to go to the back of the pile and is no longer a priority. The sector, however, will not rebuild trust simply by putting better policies and procedures in place: there needs to be a follow- through. So even if solutions to the problems cannot be found quickly, the sector needs to be acting, and needs to be seen to be acting. Therefore, feedback loops need to be explicitly built into policies and procedures. It is, I believe, one of the main paths to rebuilding that trust. Trust will also develop as universities and PBSA become more racially diverse spaces. There is a need for institutions with a growing population of Black and minority ethnic students to think about how to employ more staff who look like their students, who know what micro-aggressions and micro-exclusions look like. We know students gravitate to members of staff who look like them, because there is an assumption of understanding and the issues 5.4 WHAT NEXT FOR THE SECTOR? ‘Teleola Cartwright Consulting Fellow at Halpin Partnership of race and racism, and that this creates invisible workload. As much as we want our White allies to be well versed in the issues, we also know that they cannot fully understand what racism feels like. While the sector thinks about how to rebuild trust, it must also recognise the immediate symptoms of this problem: the growing rate of mental health issues among Black students, with a lack of mental health support that is specifically tailored to deal with the impact of race and racism. The sector must urgently address this challenge, as making a student or member of staff retell their stories may result in the victim experiencing trauma. So, whilst the sector can and should be proud of the advances it has made since this report was published, it must continue to build trust – which will take time and resources – whilst doing more in the immediate term to address the mental health crisis amongst students who experience racism. Building trust will take time and effort – so the challenge now is to ensure that the momentum is not lost before progress is made. “ Living Black at University – born out of a desire to understand the experiences of Black students in accommodation in higher education – has since evolved into a catalyst for change, a resource for institutions across the UK, and a testament to the power of research to drive progress. This was both a challenging and rewarding piece of research to conduct, at a time when many people in the sector were trying to engage with Black students due to the Black Lives Matter movement’s resurgence in 2020. Black students were experiencing consultation fatigue, and many would have given their thoughts on racism before without knowing or seeing how their feedback had helped shape change. Writing the report in the best way possible, ensuring that Black voices were heard throughout, was a top priority for us. As a research team we had to be firm and have strong conviction in not watering down our findings or recommendations on behalf of the sector. Osaro Otobo Consultant at Halpin Partnership