BIPOC Forums Summary

On May 17th, two BIPOC forums were co-hosted by Charlotte Agnew, SU’s President Welfare & Inclusivity and Melissa Muchema, SU’s Race & Equality Part-Time Officer. Out of two forums, one was for University of Exeter students and staff, and another for Falmouth University students and staff.

Feedback has been collected and are being shared by relevant members at both Universities. There will be more updates to come in order to follow up the progress of this work. Further BIPOC forums are being planned to keep conversations going, and for students and staff to be able to hold these actions to account.

The topics discussed at both forums were:

Falmouth Forum Covered:
1. [02:34] - How was the first week on your course?
2. [04:15] - Melissa’s experiences in settling in Cornwall
3. [07:15] - Do you feel like your course is fairly like mixed or do you feel like it's very predominantly one race? Can you also have effective conversations around race as well?
4. [09:27] - Do you feel like you can talk to your lecturer/ personal tutor about race?
5. [11:43] - Can white people join in with conversations on race?
6. [15:19] - Universities in multicultural areas vs Cornwall
7. [29:41] - Do you feel that there is a good communication network between your University and the BIPOC Community?
8. [43:10] - What was your experience like in your accommodation at University?
The link can be found here: https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/fb444c08-10fc-46a8-bd26-b269cfe63781

Exeter Forum Covered:
1. [01:39] - How was the first week on your course?
2. [04:30] - Settling in Cornwall as a Person of Colour (E.g. Hairdressers for non-European hair) and insight into the SU Asian Society
3. [13:12] - Are you part of your course community? Do you feel like you can talk to your lecturer/ personal tutor and connect with them?
4. [21:56] - Do you feel that there is a good communication network between your University and the BIPOC Community?
5. [28:46] - How diverse do you feel that Library collections are?
6. [30:49] What was your experience like in your accommodation at University?

The link can be found here: https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/5d8099dc-8dce-45b7-babd-c9f7c38c0a6c

To get in touch with Melissa and Charlotte, see contact details below:

Charlotte Agnew: charlotte.agnew@thesu.org.uk
Melissa Muchema: mm1026@exeter.ac.uk
FX Plus (Exeter) Librarian: rosie.enys@fxplus.ac.uk
FX Plus (Falmouth) Librarian: victoria.rees@fxplus.ac.uk