{"id":3474,"date":"2026-04-06T11:00:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T10:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=3474"},"modified":"2026-04-06T13:10:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T12:10:41","slug":"from-a-midlands-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/?p=3474","title":{"rendered":"From a Midlands University"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The 21 Group is always willing to report accounts of victimisation and bullying in Universities. Please use contact@21percent.org to tell us your story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This contribution comes from a Lecturer at a University somewhere in the Midlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“I moved to a Lectureship in the English Midlands from abroad a few years ago. At first, it felt like a fresh start. There was enough time to focus on research, and I genuinely enjoyed teaching my students. I felt I was making good progress and building a meaningful career. I was happy in my new job. After a few years, I applied for promotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the University hired a new Dean. She came from another University and was hailed as a ‘research super-star’. With her arrival came a wave of new positions. But the recruitment process was anything but fair. Those appointed were members of her former research group or longtime collaborators. Conflicts of interest on the recruitment panel were obvious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The department began to split. On one side were the newcomers; on the other, the pre-existing members of staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, one thing I should have mentioned, the newcomers are exclusively white. I, along with the majority of the pre-existing members of the Department, are from minority ethnic backgrounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was rejected for promotion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon after, the University introduced a new system to allocate teaching, called the Workload Distribution Framework (WDF). The consequences were immediate and devastating. Suddenly, I was doing far more teaching, and my research time was slashed to just 10%. Many of my colleagues experienced the same burden — but the new Dean\u2019s recruits were largely unaffected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pattern was undeniable: non-white Lecturers and Senior Lecturers bore a disproportionate teaching load, while white colleagues enjoyed far more favorable terms. This imbalance doesn\u2019t just feel unfair — it actively blocks our ability to conduct research, limits our professional development and diminishes our chances of promotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We raised the discriminatory effects of the WDF with the University. It was contrary to their EDI policies, which they make a big fuss over. Well, we all know what happens when a University carries out an internal investigation. Our concerns were completely dismissed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, the stress has become unbearable. I have been placed at risk of redundancy. I fear that, despite years of academic work, I might lose my job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Multiple staff are on sick leave. Sleep no longer comes easily to us, anxiety has become a constant companion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is more than just frustration or disappointment. It is the painful reality of being trapped in a system where merit and hard work no longer seem to matter — and where the colour of your skin seems to shape your career in ways you cannot control.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

(The map is available under the Creative Commons<\/a> CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication<\/a>. The creator of the image is Plaretyagain).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 21 Group is always willing to report accounts of victimisation and bullying in Universities. Please use contact@21percent.org to tell us your story. This contribution comes from a Lecturer at a University somewhere in the Midlands. “I moved to a Lectureship in the English Midlands from abroad a few years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3474"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3484,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3474\/revisions\/3484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/21percent.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}