Black Liberation at LUU

This page is your destination for all things Black Liberation.

“Anti-Blackness is embedded into our societies and institutions. Black people across the world have been dehumanised and oppressed. Anti-Black racism isn’t just overt slurs and prejudice, it is systemic mechanisms and practices that uphold White supremacy. At LUU, we are opposed to Anti-Black racism, in all forms. We want to build a community that recognises, celebrates and uplifts our Black students. The intersectionality of our community needs to be addressed too. Not all Black people are the same and not all Black people experience the same issues. We are committed to Liberation for all Black people.”

Natasha Fowler-Ekar, Equality and Liberation Officer 2021/22

From the things we offer Black students to the way we advocate for Black people in our organisation and beyond, to helpful resources, ways to make a difference and events of interest, we hope you’ll find this page helpful.

Resources

Services and resources for Black students

Here are some resources that we hope might be helpful or interesting:

Black History Month
LUU Black Map of Campus
The Free Black University
Celebrating Black Philosophers

Take a look at NUS’ #DecoloniseEducation Campaign and their library resources: 

You can check out the rest of the library here.

Anti-Racism at LUU

At LUU we’re on a journey towards becoming a truly ant-racist organisation. We’re already changing and improving our practices as an organisation and establishing our next steps. There’s a full Anti-Racism Statement in the works, but before we share that with you, we’ve created an infographic to give you a preview of our approach.

Ethnicity & belonging research

We also recently conducted some research into the experiences of our ‘BAME’ [as referred to in the survey] students and their sense of belonging in our community. The survey responses gave us plenty of food for thought, including the following insights:

  • Students highlighted that ‘BAME’ is not an appropriate collective term for the individual groups this survey was aimed at, and that it lacks nuance and specificity. We’re looking into moving past the usage of this term, and our internal conversations reflect ongoing wider discussions in this area.
  • More respondents agreed that their ethnicity had negatively impacted their experience than those who disagreed with this statement, however the highest number of students were ambivalent. Meanwhile the majority of respondents neither agreed nor disagreed that they receive adequate support from the University as a ‘BAME’ student.
  • Almost half agreed that they feel part of the University, meanwhile 35% agreed that they feel integrated in the LUU community. It’s clear that more work needs to be done here.
  • Popular ideas to improve support included more diversity education for white students, better representation and support for ‘BAME’ students, events and opportunities, and better accommodation and celebration of diversity.

For more insights & exact figures, please get in touch at helpandsupport@luu.leeds.ac.uk  

Co-op mural

Have you seen the huge mural of former LUU Exec, activist and academic Melz by the LUU South Entrance? Co-op created this hand-painted mural to celebrate inspirational Black figures and prompt more positive discussions around diversity and inclusion. Find out more in our video and article.

Policy passed at LUU

  • The University should adopt & implement a strategy to close the BAME awarding gaps
  • The University should implement a body dedicated to research into decolonisation

Have an idea that will contribute towards Black Liberation at Leeds? Submit an Idea!

Campaign & Support Groups

Get involved

We have lots of upcoming Liberate LUU events to help our students immerse themselves in liberation work within our community and beyond. Browse our events over on Engage, including screenings, workshops and even podcast episodes if they’re more your thing.

This link is an external URL Discover liberation events