Content Advisory: The content of this email and the campaign covers themes of racism and racial harassment, based on lived experiences of our community. If you require support relating to the themes within this campaign, please visit the Together Against Racism pages to find both internal and external support resources.  

Message from Prof Sir Anton Muscatelli, Uzma Khan, and Rachel Sandison on behalf of the Senior Management Group on the launch of a new University of Glasgow campaign Together Against Racism.  31/10/2022 

Today the University of Glasgow launches a new anti-racism campaign on racial microaggressions and overt racism.   

This campaign is based on the real and lived experiences of members of our community. For a University which prides itself on being an inclusive community, these experiences are totally unacceptable.   

On behalf of the senior leadership team at the University of Glasgow, we would like to apologise to anyone in our community who has experienced racism or racial injustice while studying or working here.   

To be the institution we aspire to be, we must show decisive action. Racism cannot have a place at UofG.   

Our campaign has been driven and developed in partnership with our students and colleagues. It talks to our values as an institution and our culture of inclusion.   

At its core is a commitment to build trust in our systems so that our community feels confident when reporting issues of racism and racial injustice. In addition, we have used a trauma-informed approach in training our staff to fully understand how racism can impact individuals. The campaign and launch video is linked to a comprehensive new website which highlights reporting tools, educational resources, how we are addressing structural inequalities at UofG and how you can be a good ally.   

The campaign forms part of the University’s Understanding Racism and Transforming University Cultures (URTUC) Report and Action Plan which was launched in 2021. Our report was in response to a major report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission which exposed widespread evidence of racial harassment across UK university campuses.  

While this campaign focuses on racial harassment and microaggressions, the University recognises racism manifests itself through interpersonal and systemic racism.   

Since our report was launched, we have rolled out several initiatives including:   

  • Anti-racism training programmes for our senior management and for more than 1,000 colleagues across the UofG community. 
  • Set targets to increase the representation of UK Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic colleagues in our workplace.  
  • Successfully recruited our first cohort of the James McCune Smith PhD Scholarships for UK Black students. 
  • Launched a Decolonising the Curriculum Community of Practice and conducted a wide range of data analysis to understand our ethnicity awarding gap more fully 

This campaign is an important step in our commitment to work together to become an anti-racist institution. The strength of the University of Glasgow is our people. Our community is drawn from countries around the world which makes UofG global in its outlook. Our community’s creativity, thinking and breadth of cultures helps to ensure we are truly world-leading and world-changing.  

Now, we need everyone in our community to join us and take a stand, Together Against Racism. Working together as OneTeamUofG, we can help eradicate racism to make our community an inclusive space for all, and one which fully celebrates diversity.   

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, Principal & Vice Chancellor  

Uzma Khan, Race Champion, Vice-Principal, Director of Strategic Planning & Deputy Chief Operating Officer   

Rachel Sandison, Vice Principal and Deputy Vice Chancellor (External Engagement)  

First published: 4 November 2022

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