A Workshop for the Staff Race Equality Forum
“Making the Right Impression: Questioning Stereotypes and Promoting Understanding”
Facilitator: Dr. Adrian Lee (Centre for Lifelong Learning)
In small groups consider the example situations below and think about:
 What the issue/s is/are
 Why it/they might have occurred
 What the solution/s might be.
The cases are from personal experience or thoughts about what might arise in a
university setting and adapted from a CAABU Arab-British relations organisation
activity for school children.
1. You see one of your students limping into class and ask what happened. Kelly
tells you she fell over on the way home from a lecture. She really hoped
someone would stop and help as she thought she had sprained her ankle. But
when a dark-skinned man with a beard asked if she wanted help she mumbled
that she didn’t need help and she hobbled home in pain. Kelly tells you she
feels a bit embarrassed and ashamed about what happened.
Staff Race Equality Forum: Working towards a significant and lasting change in the culture of our
University
http://www.york.ac.uk/admin/eo/Forum/StaffRaceEqualityForum/index.htm
A Workshop for the Staff Race Equality Forum
“Making the Right Impression: Questioning Stereotypes and Promoting Understanding”
Facilitator: Dr. Adrian Lee (Centre for Lifelong Learning)
2. Jack is a first year student in your seminar group who you have not seen
before. In conversation you ask him where he is from as part of an icebreaker.
Jack is black and when he says he is from Derby one of the other students asks
where Jack is really from, and another ‘clarifies’ the question by asking where
he originally comes from. Jack repeats that he is British and then for the rest
of the seminar appears to clam up.
3. Grace is an ethnic Chinese first year and she has asked to speak with you
about her essay that you marked and that received a poor grade because the
quality of the English made it difficult to understand the argument. In
speaking to Grace about what she could do to improve the conversation
progresses to her talking about how she is struggling generally to fit in and is
quite lonely. Her housemates and course mates are nearly all UK students and
she says they seem to like drinking a lot and are quite loud, so she doesn’t
socialise much with them. You suggest she joins a society, perhaps the
Chinese Scholars and Students Society, but she says that is no good either as
she just doesn’t fit in there. You are running out of ideas.
Staff Race Equality Forum: Working towards a significant and lasting change in the culture of our
University
http://www.york.ac.uk/admin/eo/Forum/StaffRaceEqualityForum/index.htm
A Workshop for the Staff Race Equality Forum
“Making the Right Impression: Questioning Stereotypes and Promoting Understanding”
Facilitator: Dr. Adrian Lee (Centre for Lifelong Learning)
4. Mark is a research student who shares an office in your department’s postgrad area. He is an openly gay man and he has come to you as the
departmental administrator, because he has been told that the spare desk will
be taken up by a new student from Saudi Arabia after the vacation. Mark is
unhappy about this and wonders if there is a way of putting someone else in
the office.
5. You bump into Sarah the graduate student committee rep and ask her how
the start of year lunch for post-grads went. Sarah says quite a few students
were there, but few of the international students seemed to eat anything and
she had especially ordered a good variety of vegetarian and Halal food to
make sure she was being inclusive. She says she is probably being silly, but she
feels a bit put out that she went to the extra event seemingly unnecessarily.
Nobody said there was a problem, but also she didn’t feel confident enough
to ask people everyone if they were ok.
Staff Race Equality Forum: Working towards a significant and lasting change in the culture of our
University
http://www.york.ac.uk/admin/eo/Forum/StaffRaceEqualityForum/index.htm
A Workshop for the Staff Race Equality Forum
“Making the Right Impression: Questioning Stereotypes and Promoting Understanding”
Facilitator: Dr. Adrian Lee (Centre for Lifelong Learning)
Notes on the Cases
1. Kelly’s Fall
Kelly might have reacted how she did as she was in shock and pain from her fall and not
thinking as rationally as she might. In a vulnerable position, and with little time to think, images
commonly seen in the media might have made her connect this ‘good Samaritan’ with the
threatening suicide bombers and militants in the media, rather than everyday folk like herself,
but who happen to be from a different country or culture. Her reaction shows she made
assumptions and gave credit to stereotypes in her decision making, but perhaps explaining the
context of the accident to her would make her feel less ashamed and more aware for the future
about how easy it can be to fall in to the trap of not questioning assumptions.
2. Jack’s heritage
This is something experienced across campus when people have politely or less politely
enquired as to where minority ethnic students come from, perhaps initially asking about
location but then also being interested to know about ethnic or cultural heritage. There might
still be the assumption that people from minority groups are not fully British, which can be
quite insulting or frustrating to explain when families and communities have been longStaff Race Equality Forum: Working towards a significant and lasting change in the culture of our
University
http://www.york.ac.uk/admin/eo/Forum/StaffRaceEqualityForum/index.htm
A Workshop for the Staff Race Equality Forum
“Making the Right Impression: Questioning Stereotypes and Promoting Understanding”
Facilitator: Dr. Adrian Lee (Centre for Lifelong Learning)
established in the UK and adopt a British identity and cultural affinity, and/or if they have
become naturalised citizens. The situation perhaps needed steering by the tutor to open up
discussion to avoid it appearing that only Jack has a non-British ancestry in the relatively recent
past. Other students might also need to be made aware of the sensitivity of the issue and asked
to consider why they might feel the need to know or to make assumptions about Jack because
of his visible difference to themselves. What does it say about their perceptions of Britain and a
British national identity? Where might their perceptions come from?
3. Grace’s difficulties
This is a case dealt with as Postgraduate Who Teaches. The student was upset about her
written English and ability to articulate her ideas, she was clearly quite intelligent. It seemed
quite a common feeling among some international students that home or other AngloEuropean students are difficult to socialise with because of the sorts of activities they enjoy.
Though some students, including Grace had said they knew it might help their English to
socialise more with English speakers it is not so simple. This case was amplified by the fact that
Grace was ethnically Chinese and born in China, but had not actually lived in the country much,
spending time in European schools and so having very limited Chinese language skills. Her
perception and early experiences were that Chinese students spoke Chinese together and that
is why she did not fit in. From memory, over time Grace gradually found friends with more
similar interests and her work did improve with skills support her supervisor was able to
arrange. The situation acted as a reminder that ethnicity does not necessarily indicate
nationality or language used and of the need to understand individual circumstances to come
Staff Race Equality Forum: Working towards a significant and lasting change in the culture of our
University
http://www.york.ac.uk/admin/eo/Forum/StaffRaceEqualityForum/index.htm
A Workshop for the Staff Race Equality Forum
“Making the Right Impression: Questioning Stereotypes and Promoting Understanding”
Facilitator: Dr. Adrian Lee (Centre for Lifelong Learning)
up with a solution. Grace’s perception of UK students might also have affected the situation,
making it difficult for her to find friends who also did not share the desire for drinking or loud
parties.
4. Mark’s concerns
This is a version of a Postgrad’s uncertainty of how as a gay man he would find sharing office
space with Muslim students and students from countries who’s human rights records and
attitudes towards homosexuality were shown in the media as vastly different to our own.
Gradually it became clear that whatever people felt internally was not necessarily going to be
externally visible and there was never any discomfort because of either identity. Also, what
people as individuals think and how they behave may be very different to assumptions of
collective, national images. In fact, there were interesting opportunities to discuss sexualities/
students’ countries/ Islam. People of faith are also of diverse sexual orientation and vice-versa,
and that people of faith do not necessarily hold common, often institutional views about issues
such as sexuality. Likewise there are times when the LGB community is not open-minded
enough to consider its own attitudes and assumptions about others. Would you suggest that
Mark holds fire and sees how he gets on with the new person in the office, hoping he is
pleasantly surprised to find a new good friend? You could arrange for a move around, but what
guarantee is there that a different person would be welcoming and accepting of Mark’s
sexuality and he of their character and identity? Could you be firm and insist equal
Staff Race Equality Forum: Working towards a significant and lasting change in the culture of our
University
http://www.york.ac.uk/admin/eo/Forum/StaffRaceEqualityForum/index.htm
A Workshop for the Staff Race Equality Forum
“Making the Right Impression: Questioning Stereotypes and Promoting Understanding”
Facilitator: Dr. Adrian Lee (Centre for Lifelong Learning)
opportunities policies mean it would be unfair to make an allowance for Mark and he has to
share with whoever is allocated the space?
5. Sarah’s lunch
There are times when the start of the academic year will coincide with the month of Ramadan
and for practicing Muslims the period of fasting during daylight hours. It can be difficult to
accommodate everyone’s needs and preferences food wise, but not impossible and it is much
easier than it used to be. It was good that Sarah had considered cultural diversity and she might
need reminding not everyone would have done so. If she is aware that, unfortunately, the lunch
was inevitably during Ramadan, again it might take away any negative feeling she has about her
event and hosting skills. From experience, students never appeared put out by a lunch event
being held and they tended to attend so they could mingle and meet new people to help them
settle in. The most ideal thing for a student group to do, however, would be to hold a variety of
events that meet different needs and preferences and can work around the timing of events
such as the fasting period.
Staff Race Equality Forum: Working towards a significant and lasting change in the culture of our
University
http://www.york.ac.uk/admin/eo/Forum/StaffRaceEqualityForum/index.htm