Since our inception in July 2020, the RETG has met 18 times as we explored issues relating to race, diversity and inclusion faced by students and staff at the RVC. We have listened and learned a great deal and we have begun drafting our report of recommendations to the Equality and Diversity Committee and College Executive Committee. Although the RETG will soon complete its yearlong task, the journey to ensure the RVC continues on a path to become a thriving diverse and inclusive community has just begun.

We are currently planning a series of Listening and Learning Exercises so that the RVC can learn from our community and become better for it and we hope you will join us.

In the meantime, please take a few moment to watch the following video – its truly worth a view

John Lewis: It’s not OK

It has been a year since the world witnessed the murder of George Floyd; an African American man killed by a white police officer. The global protest following this most horrifying event has been sustained, and the sense that all of society needed to take urgent action against racial discrimination, palpable and irrefutable.

In our own community, as a result of the significant stimulus from a group of our students reminding us that actions speak louder than words, under the auspices of the Equality and Diversity Committee (EDC), a Race Equality Task Group was established. Comprised by equal numbers of staff and students and chaired by Professor Dan Chan, the group was asked to provide prioritised actions for the EDC to take forward. The group will present its report and recommendations in June 2021, to the EDC.

Importantly, and in the immediate aftermath of George Floyd’s death, testimony of staff and students led to immediate changes to some of our processes. For example, our reporting protocols were neither clear nor had facility for anonymity; we addressed this by adopting the Report and Support system for students and staff, following the lead of others in the sector. We also recognised the importance of the student voice – and in particular our own Students’ Union and especially Animal Aspirations, a group of BAME students promoting HE and the professions locally, nationally and, most recently, internationally. We also committed as an organisation to the Advance HE’s Race Equality Charter.

In order to address the critical issue of safeguarding our students during work-based placements, we have instituted changes to improve the support students receive during, and following placements, should they experience any type of discrimination.

As part of our widening participation initiative, we are committed to increasing the diversity of our community with the ‘RVC for All strategy’ and have set ambitious goals for increasing access for BAME students. Beyond increased access, this work also includes initiatives to engender a sense of belonging and support for the success of BAME students.

We are currently evaluating our Equality and Diversity training with a view to providing a programme that is more interactive and that directly addresses issues of race. We are also embarking on work to consider the actions we can take towards decolonising our curriculum, making it more inclusive and culturally competent.

Given our close involvement with the veterinary profession and recognising the issues we face are intersectional and extend well beyond the campuses we occupy, we are also engaged with a number of  wider initiatives: For example, the For The Record Podcast featuring four veterinary students’ stories about their experiences relating to their race in their journey to become vets, the RACE Together Veterinary Survey, and initiatives led by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the professions national regulator.

We are in the early days of our endeavours, but we remain firmly committed to addressing racial discrimination of any form and we invite you all to help achieve the change we want to see. It may take time before we see the full impact of some of the initiatives but above all, we want ours to be a welcoming place where BAME students and staff, alongside everyone else, feel that they are valued, that they can be who they are, and thrive.  We hope our efforts will make positive and sustainable changes that go some way towards honouring the memory of George Floyd.

Professor Stuart Reid – Principal
Dr Christine Thuranira-McKeever - Chair of the Equality and Diversity Committee
Professor Dan Chan – Chair of the Race Equality Task Group

We like to take for granted that in today’s society, members of a community can feel safe and protected. But sadly, the wave of anti-Asian hate that followed the COVID-19 pandemic has members of the Asian community, even in our own community, feeling fearful, ostracized and alone. Events in the past week, where 6 of 8 victims in a shooting spree near Atlanta, Georgia were Asian women were not just tragic, but deeply hurtful as the world struggled to take notice. Campaigns to raise awareness of the rise in anti-Asian violence and abuse go seemingly unnoticed despite unprecedented rise of this form of hate crime. Members of the Asian community ask “Where’s the outrage? Where’s the rejection of cowardly acts that target the elderly and women? Where is the allyship?” Instead of ‘raised fists in defiance’ and ‘battle cries of solidarity,’ people are more preoccupied with ‘when will they get their vaccine’ or ‘when they can go on holiday.’

It was heart breaking to read a message circulating in Asian social media networks that read “Don’t talk back, its not the time to be strong… its more important to stay alive, than be strong.” Its not just the palpable fear in the message that is upsetting, it’s the acceptance that no one else is going to look after them.

For years, Asians have been called the “silent or model minority” – they don’t complain and just get on with life despite widespread prejudice and abuse. The failure to notice the current plight of Asians in our society make them feel like the “unheard” and the “unseen” minorities. Is it ironic that the Japanese proverb “See no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil” aptly describes the ignorance and seemingly acceptance of despicable acts against Asians? At the beginning of the pandemic, there were reports of acts of violence against Asians for simply wearing masks in London – until mask-wearing became “normalised” – but the question is will acts of violence and abuse against Asian become normalised?

Throughout human history, the worse of humanity manifest itself in scapegoating. And the best of humanity is when they stand together as one, where all can live free of fear, prejudice and persecution. At the RVC and in our community at large we must do more than make overtures of being anti-racist, we must stand with our Asian colleagues and speak out against aggressors. We must not look down and walk away – we must provide safe-harbour. Many people ask, ‘What can I do?’ – One important step is to hear their stories and learn what they are going through. Below I have listed a number of stories from news sites that share their accounts. But we, as the RVC community, must also listen to the struggles of those affected by these acts of aggression so that we can better support members of our community. Please look out for an upcoming invitation to an open forum that will serve as a safe space to allow members of our community to share their stories and ideas about making the RVC more inclusive.

I also want to again put a spotlight on the RVC’s and SU’s Report and Support services for anyone in our community that have been affected by anti-Asian sentiment and aggressions. The RVC’s Race Equality TaskGroup and our team of Mental Health First Aiders also stand ready to lend support to all in our community.

Firstly, I would be remiss not to wish everyone Happy Chinese New Year! – The Year of the Ox (Or the Spring Festival or Lunar New Year to be more inclusive as its celebrated by more than the Chinese – about 20% of the world’s population). (To learn more about it click here).

At our most recent RETG meeting we had a very frank and insightful discussion with the Directors of Animal Handing EMS and Clinical EMS to discuss the process when veterinary students report any form of discrimination during placements. We also discussed what measures have been implemented to improve the system but more importantly, we discussed what further work can be done to improve the reporting and support of students in these situations. We felt there are opportunities to enhance clarity of our expectations to placement providers, collection of student feedback but also how students can be encouraged to discuss and report issues encountered and how the RVC can better support both students and staff in these situations. With the recent launch of the RVC and RVCSU Report and Support system we discussed how we can have better integration of efforts which can ultimately improve the student experience and safeguard their wellbeing. A set actions and recommendations were discussed and we look forward to further improvements to the system.

Whilst there are still many improvements to be made, there is a well-known Chinese proverb that comes to mind:

Each 10,000 mile journey begins with just one step.

千里之行，始於足下

qiānlǐ zhī xíng, shǐyú zú xià

Laozi 

If anyone has any questions or comments, we would love to hear from you so please get in contact any of the RETG members.

This week, between the 1st and 7th of February marks the first ever, Race Equality Week, a UK-wide initiative launched by a not-for-profit community interest company, Race Equality Matters. This initiative aimed to unite hundreds of organisations in addressing barriers facing race equality in the workplace.

Each day this week, the RVC has been posting messages on our social media platforms in support of the movement and prompts for open conversations relating to race issues within our community.

One of the key activities outlined by the campaign was the creation of “Safe Spaces” whereby brave and often uncomfortable discussions need to take place. Underpinning the concept of Safe Spaces is the creation of an environment where people affected by race issues can have their voices heard, where people will listen, and where actions will follow.

In support of Race Equality Week, I would ask that you click on at least one of the links below, which very much align with these principles, so that you can learn more about the issues at hand and what actions have taken place in the RVC to support our quest to have a more inclusive and diverse community.

• For The Record Podcast (RCVS Knowledge) – Featuring four veterinary students’ stories about their experiences relating to their race in their journey to become vets
• RACE Together Veterinary Survey
• Report and Support
• Dignity at Work and Study Policy

Finally, I leave you with the following quote:

"If you can’t fly then run,
If you can’t run then walk,
If you can’t walk then crawl,
But whatever you do you have to keep moving forward” 

- Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.

In the last RETG meeting held on the 20th November, we explored some of the issues relating to recruitment, retainment and promotion of staff from ethnic and minority groups. We discussed that there are many challenges in obtaining the appropriate data we need in order to better understand possible reasons for the disparity we have. Our upcoming meetings we will:

• Explore challenges faced by researchers from ethnic minorities in securing research awards
• Learn more about the efforts and challenges faced by our Widening Participation team and
• Evaluate the prospect of safeguarding students from racial discrimination and microaggressions during clinical rotations and work-based placements (eg, EMS)

As mentioned in my previous update, we are excited to announce that the College have signed up to the Advance HE Race Equality Charter (REC) membership and have fully endorsed the REC principles highlighted below. The REC aims to improve the representation, progression and success of minority ethnic staff and students within higher education sector.  In doing so, the College is committed to the promotion and advancement of Race Equality.  For more information and updates please see the section within the Equality and Diversity website under REC.

REC members are committed to following these guiding principles:

1. Racial inequalities are a significant issue within higher education. Racial inequalities are not necessarily overt, isolated incidents. Racism is an everyday facet of UK society and racial inequalities manifest themselves in everyday situations, processes and behaviours.
2. UK higher education cannot reach its full potential unless it can benefit from the talents of the whole population and until individuals from all ethnic backgrounds can benefit equally from the opportunities it affords.
3. In developing solutions to racial inequalities, it is important that they are aimed at achieving long-term institutional culture change, avoiding a deficit model where solutions are aimed at changing the individual.
4. Black and minority ethnic staff and students are not a homogenous group. People from different ethnic backgrounds have different experiences of and outcomes from/within higher education, and that complexity needs to be considered in analysing data and developing actions. 
5. All individuals have multiple identities, and the intersection of those identities should be considered wherever possible.

If anyone has any questions or comments, we would love to hear from you so please get in contact any of the RETG members.

• Daniel Chan –Chair of RETG:  dchan@rvc.ac.uk

Members of Staff:

• Mehroosh Tak – Faculty Member: mtak@rvc.ac.uk
• Donald Palmer – Faculty Member: dpalmer@rvc.ac.uk
• Andy Marshall – Chaplain: Asmarshall@rvc.ac.uk

Members of Student Body:

• Quentin Wedmore – SU President: supresident@rvc.ac.uk
• Lavinia Economu – Animal Aspirations: leconomu5@rvc.ac.uk
• Olivia Craddock – SU Equality Officer: suequality@rvc.ac.uk

Advisors:

• Avtar Matharu – External Advisor: avtar.matharu@york.ac.uk
• Rebecca Costello – Internal Advisor: rcostello@rvc.ac.uk

Dear all,

The Race Equality Task Group (RETG) convened our fifth meeting in October and we would like to provide the following updates:

• The main focus of our discussion was the student experience in relation to race issues encountered during rotations and EMS placements
• Experiences shared by our students and collated via the Students’ Union recent survey highlighted 4 key areas that we will be exploring further and these include:

1. Feedback & Reporting procedures for students on rotations and placements
2. Review of support structures and guidance available for students during placements who encounter race-related incidents
3. Developing specific training to rotation teaching staff and placement providers related to race issues encountered during rotations and placements
4. Development of code of conduct charter for placement providers (covering various aspects of safeguarding and this would be applicable to all RVC courses that involve placements). Such a code of conduct charter could involve consultation with other vet schools and the RCVS

• The RETG will explore these issues with the EMS Director, AHEMS Director and IMR Director and other placement coordinators in future meetings

October marked Black History Month in the UK and a number of activities were organised by the Students’ Union and the RVC and we hope everyone was able to take part in these activities and help celebrate Black History Month. If you would like to see some of the highlights please check the Equality and Diversity Pages

One highlight worth a watch can be found here: https://rvc.uk.com/BHM-in-conversation

To close out the month, perhaps very fittingly, the Principal signed the commitment of engagement with, and subscription to, the Equality Challenge Unit’s Race Equality Charter.

Finally, today, 3rd November, many around the world will be looking at Election Day in the US with great interest. As with all elections, there are implications for many issues, and a key impact may be on race relations not only in the US but further ashore. At a time where there is a great need for strong leadership, I leave you this non-political video clip shared with me by a colleague. It is only 5 minutes long – and trust me, its worth a viewing. To me, this is what true leadership looks like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkUrnHT1VvI

If anyone has any questions or comments, we would love to hear from you so please get in contact any of the RETG members.

• Daniel Chan –Chair of RETG:  dchan@rvc.ac.uk

Members of Staff:

• Mehroosh Tak – Faculty Member: mtak@rvc.ac.uk
• Donald Palmer – Faculty Member: dpalmer@rvc.ac.uk
• Andy Marshall – Chaplain: Asmarshall@rvc.ac.uk

Members of Student Body:

• Quentin Wedmore – SU President: supresident@rvc.ac.uk
• Lavinia Economu – Animal Aspirations: leconomu5@rvc.ac.uk
• Olivia Craddock – SU Equality Officer: suequality@rvc.ac.uk

Advisors:

• Avtar Matharu – External Advisor: avtar.matharu@york.ac.uk
• Rebecca Costello- Internal Advisor: rcostello@rvc.ac.uk

Dear all,

The Race Equality Task Group (RETG) convened our fourth meeting this week since the inception of the task group and would like to provide the following updates:

• We discussed the various challenges associated with canvassing the entire RVC community in relation to race and equality issues within the timeframe afforded the task group and hope to outline a plan to gather the views of staff in an efficient manner which could take the shape of “Town Hall” meetings or a short survey
• The Students’ Union reaffirmed its commitment to present the issues they feel reflect the students’ experience based on a short survey they carried out this past summer
• The Students’ Union also presented an often overlooked relationship between the environmental crisis, social injustice and racism and hope to raise awareness of this issue in our action plan
• The RETG would also like to report that a meeting took place between representatives of the RVC teaching staff, RVC students and members of the British Veterinary Ethnicity and Diversity Society to discuss ways to incorporate race, diversity, equality issues in the delivery of our curricula
• For the upcoming RVC Inset Days, we discussed opportunities to introduce discussions relating to race and diversity issues faced by students and staff during rotations and placements. As a primer for these discussions, I am attaching a very short piece (3 minutes to read) which highlights some of the issues encountered by trainees (in this case, trainee anaesthetists) in the workplace which has clear parallels to some of our students’ experiences.
• As one of primary goals of the RETG is to listen to concerns raised by staff and students to enable us to formulate a strategic plan, we are listing the membership and contact details of the RETG in our messages in hopes of facilitating open communication

If anyone has any questions or comments, we would love to hear from you so please get in contact any of the RETG members.

• Daniel Chan – Chair of RETG:  dchan@rvc.ac.uk
• Quentin Wedmore – SU President: supresident@rvc.ac.uk
• Dom Palmer – Faculty Member: dpalmer@rvc.ac.uk
• Lavinia Economu – Animal Aspirations: leconomu5@rvc.ac.uk
• Meroosh Tak – Faculty Member: mtak@rvc.ac.uk
• Olivia Craddock – SU Equality Officer: suequality@rvc.ac.uk
• Andy Marshall – Chaplain: Asmarshall@rvc.ac.uk
• Avtar Matharu – External Advisor: avtar.matharu@york.ac.uk
• Rebecca Costello- Internal Advisor: rcostello@rvc.ac.uk

Best wishes,

Dan

Dear all,

The Race Equality Task Group (RETG) is fully committed in providing our community with regular updates on our activities. We have met for a second time on the 26th August and began exploring findings of a survey conducted by the Student Union on race-related issues encountered by students. As there were many areas highlighted by the survey, careful exploration of issues identified is the current focus on the RETG agenda.

We also discussed the urgent need to gauge RVC staff views on the issues of race equality and how we could progress this next step. We are currently exploring options to undertake this important work within the working timeframe of the RETG.

Recognising that we have much work to do, we have agreed to meet more frequently than monthly to allow greater discussions of the issues identified. We are meeting this week and again in the next two weeks. We will also be seeking to form subgroups from the wider RVC community (staff and students) to help us better understand the issues staff and students consider crucial in our quest to make the RVC more diverse and inclusive. For those wondering the difference in these goals, I offer you this quote:

“ Diversity is being asked to the party; Inclusion is being asked to dance.” — Verna Myers

If anyone has any questions or comments, we would love to hear from you so please get in contact any of the RETG members.

Best wishes,

Dan

Dear all,

I hope all are well. I wanted to update everyone on the activities of the newly formed Race Equality Task Group (RETG). We held our inaugural meeting on the 22nd July and are meeting again on the 26th August. Our plan is to meet monthly as we work through our ambitious but important agenda.

As a group, we feel transparency is crucial to our goals and so we would like to share with you the subject of our first meeting which was to discuss our objectives, structure and membership. Below is a summary of our discussions.

Purpose of the Task Group:

At the direction of the Principal, the Race Equality Task Group (RETG) has been established by the Equality and Diversity Committee (EDC) to consider and address issues (both actual and perceived) undermining race equality at the RVC. The group will work with staff and student representation to engage the College community in identifying issues of mutual concern, agree measures to address them and actively promote diversity and inclusion in the College.

The Task Group will prepare a report and supporting Action Plan for consideration by the EDC during the spring term of the 2020/21 academic year. The report will be shared with the College’s College Executive Committee (CEC) and the RVC Student Union in due course.

Terms of Reference:

The RETG will:

• Engage with students and staff to gather their views on identifying where problems in relation to race equality lie
• Review the support structures for both students and staff that are in place, and seek views on how these might be adapted to make them more effective. This includes, but is not limited to:
• Reporting mechanisms for staff and students
• Student and staff links to the Equality and Diversity Committee (EDC)
• External partners – student placements, clients, sector and local communities Review the student culture, student recruitment strategies and information regarding racism within the student body, including the formal and informal structures and activities of the RVC SU, and develop proposals to address any issues that may be identified.
• Review the staff culture, staff recruitment strategies, policies and working practices to identify any issues which may be a barrier to racial equality and develop proposals to address any issues that are identified.
• Consider ways to raise awareness of race equality issues across the RVC community, including the RVCSU and curricula delivered.
• Consider ways to improve communication about, and engagement with, the formal and informal measures the RVC has put in place to meet both its statutory and regulatory obligations, and its own strategic and moral commitment to promote race equality.
• Ensure the RETG’s Report and Action Plan is aligned and compatible with the RVC and RVC SU’s wider strategies to promote diversity and inclusion across all equality strands.

Membership:

Chair - Professor Daniel Chan

Three staff representatives:

Dr Donald Palmer – Associate Professor of Immunology
Dr Mehroosk Tak – Lecturer in Agribusiness
Revd Andy Marshall – Chaplain

Three student representatives:

Students' Union President – Quentin Wedmore
Students' Union Equality Officer - Olivia Craddock
Animal Aspirations President - Lavinia Economu

The RETG is further supported by an Internal Advisor (Ferhat Nazir-Bhatti), an External Advisor (Dr. Avtar Matharu - University of York) and an administrator (Vanessa Charlesworth)

Our plans going forward is to provide regularly updates to the RVC community including the Student Union and Alumni network via a number of communication channels.

If anyone has some questions or comments, please feel free to contact any of the RETG members.

Best wishes, Dan

Chair – Race Equality Task Group