What happens after you’ve called your University ‘institutionally racist’?

Professor Sir Steve West CBE is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of West England (UWE).

He’s also a man who doesn’t shy away from difficult conversations, including calling UWE out for being institutionally racist under his own leadership. Sir Steve spoke to WHEN about why it was a “no-brainer” to partner with WHEN’s 100 Black Women Professors NOW programme. Steve champions the programme as a business imperative to evolve UWE towards being an anti-racist institution. 

What prompted you to sign up to the 100 Black Women Professors NOW programme? 

About 12 months ago in a senior workshop at UWE, we were trying to get our heads around data relating to inequalities and inequities across our staff and student population. We were being facilitated by a brilliant external facilitator who is mixed race and was being very gentle with us. But I ended up saying that when you look at the data, the place you end up is that we’re institutionally racist. 

What was the reaction in the room to that statement? 

You could hear a pin drop. Everyone went to that place that everybody always goes to…“I’m not racist” or “that’s going to destroy the university” or “how are you going to explain that to the governors?” 

But that’s not what this is about. It’s about the fact that, institutionally, over years, we have created an environment that is racist and disadvantages staff and students in ways in which we haven’t considered. I knew that if we were going to resolve this, we needed to do something really big as an institution. That started with naming this as institutional racism. From there I went straight to the board, knowing that we needed business processes and system changes to help us create the right environment. 

Had you tried other initiatives before 100BWPN? 

S: Lots. And yet our dials, in respect to student and staff promotion and progression gaps, just weren’t moving. This had to be owned by everyone and we had to commit to change as an institution. 

How did 100BWPN come to your attention? 

As part of focusing on what being an anti-racist institution looked like, we appointed our Chief People Officer Dan Wood. Dan had already worked in the police and the NHS to drive cultural change, and he brought the 100 Black Women Professor’s NOW programme to my attention. He said we should look at it and I said “No, we shouldn’t look at it. We should do it”. We took the decision within 24 hours! 

Why is 100BWPN such a potent programme for you? 

100 Black Women Professors NOW completely aligned with where we wanted to get to. While the initiative focuses on a relatively small number of Black women within our organisation, the learning from it benefits our entire institution by identifying changes we can make internally. If you’re an organisation that believes in talent and reducing inequality, why wouldn’t you do this programme? For us, there was no reason not to. 

Can you tell me a bit more about what led to you calling UWE institutionally racist? 

I knew that we’d been avoiding reality for a while. In that same senior leadership meeting I spoke about, a Black student had shared her story with us. She described her experiences within the university and as a nursing student on placement in the NHS, and I could feel people lean in and listen hard to what she was saying. What I didn’t want to happen was for us to go to the usual place of “oh that’s dreadful, that shouldn’t happen” without acknowledging that we’re the ones who have created that space. 

What was the experience of that particular Black student? 

It was a sadly common experience of frank racism in both the university and NHS environment. Visibly being ignored. White students being favoured in tutorials. Not receiving the support she was asking for. It was particularly bad in the NHS environment, as here you have the variable of the general public who are typically in some form of distress and things become entirely unfiltered. Students see stuff in these hospitals that most people won’t experience in a lifetime. We need to work out how to support them when they’re faced with this. 

Is there anything UWE has done in reaction to this particular student’s story? 

There’s a video we created as part of an NHS project, which reflects the experiences of our collective student voice, including hers. It’s very painful, and makes people ask what they could have done, and what they can do to change this. You can watch it here: Faculty of Health UWE / Racism on Placement

Why did you pick ‘anti-racist’ as an institutional strategy? 

Because it’s positive. It’s a go-to mindset instead of a run-from mindset. It avoids passivity, or blame or diversion. Instead, it encourages people to actively engage. 

What steps did you take to encourage the buy-in of the 100BWPN programme at UWE? 

We worked through the VC’s executive and the staff forums which are specifically focused on our BAME staff and women, and we drove it hard and fast. 

What do you intend to do with the learnings of the 100BWPN programme? 

We’ll take them into our own staff development programmes and internal processes, but we also want to share them outwards. I’m often working with Evenlyn Welch, the VC and President of Bristol University (who is also partnered with 100BWPN), to see what we can do together. 

We want to partner with other institutions, with the local councils, and combined authorities like the police and NHS. We’re all on the same journey when it comes to institutional racism. If we can work together as a city and community, then we can begin to resolve hundreds of years of inequality. Ultimately I want to engage with local schools and colleges to start making generational change. But we all have to sort out our own houses first, which is where the 100BWPN programme has helped us focus at UWE. 

Considering the financial constraints on the HE sector, what would you consider the business case for joining the 100BWPN? 

Every university will be feeling financial strain, and that’s not going to go away. So, we either roll over and do nothing or we admit that the business case for doing nothing is, in the end, going to be very costly.  

Fundamentally the 100BWPN programme is about recognising and developing talent. In a university, people are always the greatest assets. So if we ignore groups and communities in our universities that have talent, and we don’t develop or support them or recognise the inequalities that exist for them, then we’ve missed an opportunity. By not doing the 100BPWN programmes you’re missing an opportunity to develop a talent, which is your pipeline to the future of your university. 

Also, just look at the data, it is damning. The number of Black women professors we have across our sector is damning and completely unacceptable. It’s been ignored for years. We’ve all ignored it otherwise we’d have a lot more. It’s pretty similar for black male professors too…slightly more but not many. And when you look at intersectionality it gets even worse! So come on, the business case is simple. We appoint people and it’s our duty to get the best out of them. For a relatively small amount of investment in 100BWPN, you gain learning which should improve the university’s overall performance. 

Apart from the programme itself, are there other ways in which you are supporting racial equity on a personal or institutional level? 

Institutionally, we’re making an effort to lead from the top of the organisation. This includes re-invigorating our diversity champions (of which every member of the VC’s executive has volunteered to be one). We’re also making sure that across the uni we’ve got mandatory modules and training workshops on equality, bias, diversity, inclusivity and microaggressions. Fundamentally, I want to signal that in a people-based organisation, we must work consistently on our culture. 

Did the acknowledgement of institutional racism at UWE affect you personally? 

Yes. I’ve been at UWE almost 30 years so the first place I went to was “This is on my watch. How on earth did I not recognise this? And how did I allow this to happen?”. I had to ask myself whether this was a reflection of my leadership, which is difficult and has left me with questions I’m still trying to answer.  

For instance, in a world with so much trauma, how do we work to create a better place for young people who are arriving? In our degree ceremonies I say to our graduates “you are our future and you have to do better than we’ve done”. My generation frankly has not done a good job and for that I’m really really sorry and we have to continue to work to support you to be better than we are. 

I’ve also had to get comfortable with uncomfortable emotions. It can be very hard to show these as a senior leader because somewhere along the way, we were taught it’s a sign of weakness. But it isn’t. Vulnerability matters in this space. And now it’s about action. Action to change data. 

What is your biggest takeaway from the data? 

Never lose sight of the fact that the data is actually about human lives, human potential and human ambition. It’s all about people. If you hide behind the data without understanding the impact on the people, you’ve missed the point. 

What would you say to any VCs or senior leaders considering joining the 100BWPN programme? 

Do it. There is no reason not to do it. Education is about the potential to transform lives. Doing this programme will transform lives. 

And any pearls of wisdom for leaders to make the most of the programme? 

Commit to it and be prepared to be uncomfortable as leaders. Admit that you’re going to make mistakes. Work together and trust each other, and get through that bit. It’s not about getting it perfect. The important bit is to recognise when we get things wrong and to do something about it.