Commitments to Goldsmiths Anti-Racist Action

• ‘Drop-in’ service to be set up at DTH reception for booking enquiries
• Specific booking query form to be made available via the ‘Community’ pages of the Goldsmiths website

All areas complete.

The Deptford Town Hall community booking form is available.

• Two scholarships to be reinstated for Palestinian students, currently residing in Palestine or holders of Palestinian travel documents, who would require Student Visas to study in the UK. Recipients are to demonstrably plan to return to Palestine or their place of residence to support civic society there
• Scholarships to be reinstated for the start of the academic year 2020/2021
• The selection process should continue (as it has been in the past years) to have elected student representatives (ie: Palestine Twinning Officer, President of the Palestine society or any relevant Goldsmiths Students’ Union elected representative)

All areas complete.

Two scholars have been selected for the 2020/2021 academic year. Further information about the Humanitarian Scholarships programme.

• The Social, Therapeutic and Community Studies (STaCS) Department Management Team (DMT) will form a working group to review the BA Applied Social Science, Community Development & Youth Work programme and work towards the reinstatement of the STaCS contact hours
• The working group will be formed in September of the upcoming academic year (2019/20)
• The working group will consist of staff of the BA Applied Social Science, Community Development and Youth Work programme, current students on the course and alumni - facilitated by the programme convenor, the progress of which will be reported to Elisabeth Hill (Or whomever fulfils the role of Learning, Teaching and Enhancement Pro-Warden)
• Department staff and students will spearhead all decisions of this working group

The reinstatement of the contact hours for the BA(Hons) Social Science Community Development and Youth Work was established in the 2020/21 academic year.

This was the result of a working group lead by the Programme Convenor David Woodger working with students, alumni and programme staff over a period of one year.

The reinstatement of contact hours has refreshed and enhanced the offer to students with an exciting programme co-produced with students and alumni.

• Every level of staff will undergo the training. This training will commence in the academic year 2019/20 going forward as reflective of the initial meeting of the Anti-Racism Training Steering Group
• This training is to be rolled out across future academic years and for incoming staff members
• SMT and the Communications team will be prioritised as early adopters
• There will be discussion about how best to roll out the programme across the College in the way that is most effective and in discussion with the Anti-Racism Training Steering Group
• There will continue to be an additional 2 GARA representatives and 2 representatives from each of the liberation groups (Black, Disabled, LGBT+, Trans, Women) in the Stakeholder Group(s)

• Every reasonable and practicable measure should be taken to ensure the recruitment of BME staff into the wellbeing and counselling teams for the upcoming academic year (2019/20) and beyond
• Recruitment advertisements will be put out in race equality networks, BME networks and all appropriate platforms
• The person specification for the roles has been amended to ensure that there are BME counsellors and wellbeing advisors
• SMT will commit to rolling out Cultural Competency Training for all staff within the wellbeing and counselling teams for the upcoming academic year (2019/20) in addition to the cross-campus mandatory anti-racist training
• The new Director of Human Resources (HR) has been contacted to secure application workshops to be rolled out in the upcoming academic year (2019/20)
• Proposals for supporting BME applicants in the job application process will be brought forward to the HR & Equalities Committee in the next academic year (2019/20)
• A BME student will be invited to be on each interview panel for student-facing staff on the Wellbeing and Counselling teams e.g. GARA representatives

New staff from BME backgrounds were appointed into the Wellbeing and Counselling team in the 2019/20 academic year. Roles were advertised with an amended job description as agreed with Goldsmiths Anti-Racist Action and were advertised on additional networks.

A cultural competency training programme has been researched and an overview drafted in collaboration with the Organisational Development and Equalities Manager. A final delivery timeline will be confirmed once budget details are finalised and in discussion with the anti-racism training group.

• SMT will be putting forward a proposal to Goldsmiths council in their September 2019 meeting to bring all security staff in-house

All areas complete.

Cleaners were insourced from 1 May 2019. Security and front of house staff were insourced from 1 February 2020.

• The Data Impact Assessment will be released to all parties concerned (including but not limited to: UCU, Unison, Goldsmiths Student’s Union (GSU), GARA, student and staff liberation groups and Goldsmiths Race Equality Group (GREG) - should these groups wish to be a part of the process)
• The Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) will be carried out transparently and rigorously. The EIA will inform how, or whether, the project continues. The following groups will be consulted as part of the EIA: GARA students, Students’ Union officers, Students’ Union liberation groups, staff, staff unions, staff with disabilities, LGBTQ network, and GREG
• SEAtS will not be rolled out to any new departments until the Equalities Impact Assessment is completed and the project board makes a decision about the future of SEAtS

SEAtS is being rolled out for use across the College in autumn 2022, following a consultation among students, staff and the Students' Union and staff unions.

A Data Impact Assessment and Equalities Impact Assessment have been conducted and released to all agreed parties including GARA, Goldsmiths Students’ Union officers, Goldsmiths Racial Equality Group and others.

• The working group will spearhead the design of a new centralised reporting system which will have procedures in place to better safeguard victims and complainants, ensuring they can receive the support they need, whether it is pastoral, judicial or disciplinary
• The working group will consist of 2 GARA representatives, 2 BME staff, 2 academics, 3 Goldsmiths Students’ Union representatives and other relevant parties
• The working group will meet a minimum of three times a month, in order to ensure that a new system can be designed, tested and rolled out as soon as possible
• Existing staff members who deal with the Hate Crime Reporting Centre and the new complaints procedure will receive cultural competency training in addition to the mandatory anti-racist training

The new working group has been established, including representation from two GARA representatives, 2 BME staff, 2 academics, 3 Goldsmiths Students’ Union representatives and other relevant parties.

The working group has met to consider a new complaints procedure, including the possibility of an external appointment to scope a new complaints system. Progress on this external appointment has paused owing to the implications of Covid-19 on staff recruitment, as well as other developments outside of Goldsmiths including discussions with the University of London around the development of a federal complaints system for University of London institutions.

A cultural competency training programme has been scoped. A final delivery timeline will be confirmed once budget details are finalised and in discussion with the anti-racism training group.

• Plaques will be made that detail the history of each statue as a temporary measure in place at the latest for the next academic year (2019/20)
• This will be an interactive process. For example, a callout for design ideas can be incorporated into the open call for BME researchers for the reparative justice programme or the design work could be done in collaboration between Goldsmiths, GARA and local schools in the community
• Once a text is agreed, including with GARA, following the research carried out by the BME researcher(s) (who is carrying out a study into Goldsmiths’ colonial heritage), Statement of commitments made by Goldsmiths Senior Management team to Goldsmiths Anti-Racist Action Goldsmiths, University of London 7 then information about the statues and history of Deptford Town Hall will be available on the Goldsmiths website and be included in the next batch of print prospectuses to be produced for academic year 2021/22. This information will be included in current digital versions of the 2020/21 prospectus
• There will be a public conversation held regarding the statues with involvement from key stakeholders, such as grassroots organisations in the local community
• Alongside this, consideration will be given to views within the College regarding the iconography of the building as part of the race audit being led by Dr Rollock. This will inform next steps
• An online consultation will be held but not in the form of a tick box exercise

Plaques detailing the history of each statue were agreed with GARA and added to Deptford Town Hall railings as a temporary measure in September 2019.

Text about the statues has been included on the Goldsmiths website and appears in our prospectuses. 

A community consultation on the future of the statues was held in autumn 2021, with this delay a result of the College having to focus on its ongoing response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The outcomes of this consultation are available on the Goldsmiths website. 

At its meeting in June 2022, Goldsmiths’ Council agreed that the College would not seek to remove the statues and that a programme of educational, engagement and interpretative measures would be put into place. A delivery group has been set up to lead this work. 

• Recruitment for a research post and additional budget and resource has been made available to Dr Rollock to deliver her work
• This research will be done across Goldsmiths College

Two members of staff were recruited to work in the Racial Justice Team and employed into the 2020/21 academic year.

The role of Race Justice Project Officer was created and appointed to in February 2022, with responsibilities for developing the Race Justice Framework and Strategy and representing Goldsmiths in Race related partnerships.

• £20,000 will be ring-fenced for Black History events for Goldsmiths Students’ Union at the start of the upcoming academic year (2019/20) and will continue annually - awarded according to fulfilling criteria which will be developed by Goldsmiths Students’ Union in collaboration with the College (via the Racial Justice Action Group)
• Goldsmiths Students’ Union will report transparent expenditure to relevant parties biannually

Incomplete, work ongoing

• SMT will collaborate with GARA on the contents and the wording of the statement
• The statement will not go public until GARA has expressed their approval of the statement
• The public statement will be sent from SMT to all levels of staff and students at Goldsmiths at the start of the upcoming academic year (2019/20)
• The statement will be published publicly, including the Goldsmiths website and all forms of social media at the start of the upcoming academic year (2019/20)
• If agreement about the details of the statement cannot be reached, both parties would engage with an agreed independent arbitrator(s) who has experience in racial justice whose decision would be final

All areas complete.

The complicity statement was published on the Goldsmiths website on 23 October 2019. It was sent to all staff and students by email and was shared via Goldsmiths social media accounts. The statement is actively used when managing queries from members of the public or the media.

• The race audit will take into account views about how best to decolonise the curriculum. We will endeavour to ensure that all departments engage fully with the audit
• This work will be taken forward with the support of the Racial Justice Action Group (which will be formed in the next academic year 2019/20) with this group’s terms of reference (including frequency of meetings) be determined in collaboration with those in the group and in line with the wider deadline of the audit
• We will ensure that the Racial Action Group and/or the wider reference group include members of student liberation groups, GARA representatives and Goldsmiths Students’ Union
• SMT agrees that revisions to the curriculum are likely and important and we will look to take forward and give full consideration to the recommendations of the audit in this respect. An overhaul of the curricula will be a priority. Departments will proactively support the wider Goldsmiths audit, providing relevant evidence on how they have addressed decolonisation

Goldsmiths has prioritised academic decolonisation as one of the main workstreams within the Race Justice Strategic Framework. The College has appointed a specific role within the TaLIC team to lead this work and established a strategic working group to oversee decolonisation work, which has included the design of a Decolonisation and Anti-Racist Pedagogy Strategy for 2022-23. 

Existing projects across the College are supporting this work, including Black Lives Matter Reading Lists. 

• Goldsmiths has requested a formal consultation with Glasgow University to investigate how they carried out their reparative justice programme
• If Glasgow University does not respond by the end of August 2019, Goldsmiths will proceed with this work regardless
• There will be an open call for research proposals from BME academic researchers to take part in investigations into Goldsmiths’ colonial heritage. Goldsmiths will allocate funding for its own study, which will be able to fund full-time, contracted staff who will lead on the research
• Goldsmiths will be prepared to publish the results of their study and draft a programme of reparative justice including its pledges, ideally in the next 9 months
• Updates will be shared publicly on a monthly basis including but not exclusive to online platforms

Incomplete, work ongoing

• Goldsmiths will fund a paid BME representatives proposal, should it be a key recommendation by the Racial Justice Action Group
• The race audit will include a question around BME student representatives. The information gained will inform the recommendations made by the Racial Justice Action Group
• Should they wish to attend, a meeting will be arranged, between Dr Rollock, Howard Littler (Academic Representation & Communities Manager of the Goldsmiths Students’ Union), Anna Tango Cañete (Academic Representation Coordinator of the Goldsmiths Students’ Union), Goldsmiths Students’ Union sabbatical officers, GARA representatives, and other relevant bodies to further discuss the case of BME representatives for each academic department. Agreements will include how this would be structured and how BME reps and their respective departments would be appropriately trained, supported and regulated

Incomplete, work ongoing

• Additional funding of £20,000 will be allocated annually for faith, religion and belief-based events
• The head of estates will continue to work alongside Goldsmiths Students’ Union, the chaplains and 3 GARA representatives to locate an appropriate space for the start of the upcoming academic year (2019/20)
• A bigger space will be allocated for a new multi-faith prayer room that is fit for purpose. Preparations (furnishing, carpeting etc.) will be made as soon as practicable with the aim of completion within Term One (academic year 2019/20)

All areas complete.

A bigger prayer room was identified and opened at the start of the 2019/20 academic year.

A multi-faith fund was launched in November 2019 for faith-based societies and students to access funding for faith-based events.