King’s College London fighting race row after white lecturers are ‘barred from free tai chi classes’ in a bid to ‘tackle racism’
- Tory MP pledged to write to the Commission for Racial Equality over the event
Top university King’s College London faced backlash after allegedly barring white lecturers from ‘free tai chi classes’ in a bid to ‘tackle racism’.
Staff were invited to lessons last week ‘aimed at combating chronic stress experienced in the body as a result of racism and systemic oppression’.
According to The Daily Telegraph, a memo advertised the event, ran by practitioner Jalal Afhim, as being ‘for staff who identify as black/people of colour/global majority’.
A sign-up form reportedly looked to ensure ‘the participants are all from global majority backgrounds’, given their stated purpose of supporting those facing racism.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines global majority as ‘the group of people in the world who do not consider themselves or are not considered to be white’.
In light of the event, Sir John Hayes, chair of the Common Sense Group of Tory MPs pledged to write to the Commission for Racial Equality to ‘check whether the architects of this have broken the law.’
King’s College London ran an event offering tai chi classes for those facing racism
On their website, King’s College London states: ‘As an employer and educator, King’s recognises its legal duties as well as the moral imperative to promote diversity and inclusion within the campus community and to provide a safe and healthy environment for work and study where staff, students and other members of the King’s community are treated with dignity, courtesy and respect.
‘Our dedicated Diversity & Inclusion team not only ensures that King’s meets and upholds its legal obligations in regard to equality and anti-discrimination law, but also makes positive interventions to embed the ethos diversity and inclusion into policy, processes and everyday practice, working to eliminate barriers to participation and success.’
A lecturer at the university said that it was not clear how ‘segregated tai chi classes will help to achieve KCL’s diversity goals’.
Last year, the University of Westminster’s student union reserved events for Black students during Black History Month, prompting a similar response from critics.
Social anthropology lecturer at Edinburgh University Dr Neil Thin said the move was ‘tragic’, accusing the London university of segregation ‘previously seen in South African and USA education systems’.
Sir John Hayes again called for an investigation to see if there was any potential discrimination.
The Westminster Students’ Union declined to comment.
Meanwhile a spokesman for the university said: ‘One of the university’s key Black Lives Matter commitments was to eliminate all gaps associated with success measures for all BME students.
‘Black History Year Create, an intensive career-defining programme aimed at addressing disparities among black students, does exactly that.
‘Equality of opportunity does not always mean giving everyone access to the same thing; it means creating a level playing field by offering some programmes to those who are underrepresented or those who have had less access to opportunity.’
MailOnline contacted King’s College London for comment.
People practice Tai Chi at the Bund in the morning on January 3, 2022 in Shanghai, China
Jalal Afhim is co-chairman at the university’s Race Equality Network.
He spent eight years in China studying before returning to the UK.
Afhim now runs a separate wellbeing and support space for staff of colour at the University of London.