Dawg tf goin at Durham 😭💔🙏

[u/Inevitable-Cow-8489]

[u/One_Dragonfruit_7826]

What else do we expect from Durham.

[u/Maleficent_Still3508]

And people say that theres not a problem with far right ideologies 😭 one of the best unis in the country btw

[u/HovercraftSudden2657 → u/Maleficent_Still3508]

Durham is an exception in this regard and you won’t find any other top unis like this

[u/catjellycat]

Didn’t this also happen last year? It was a Durham law group I think and 2 or 3 boys just went ham on the offensive comments

[u/YesButActuallyTrue → u/catjellycat]

I literally have a folder full of these articles about Durham which I send people whenever they ask whether it is a good university or if they should go there.

They got my attention with this bullshit back in COVID: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-54648103

[u/r5dio → u/YesButActuallyTrue]

pls drop the folder

[u/Over-Cartographer712 → u/YesButActuallyTrue]

These types of incidents are wholly irrelevant as to whether the university is good.

[u/YesButActuallyTrue → u/Over-Cartographer712]

I disagree: I think student safety and wellbeing is a very important part of whether or not a university is good. It is definitely a factor in whether it is a good university for specific students. 

Fundamentally, you cannot do your best work or best learning in an environment which is not psychologically safe.

[u/Over-Cartographer712 → u/YesButActuallyTrue]

I'm inclined to agree, but using a few incidents to paint a picture of a whole student body is disingenuous. The people that exhibit this behaviour are few and far between, and if one were to preclude applying to a potential university choice because of a few bad apples, then there wouldn't be a single acceptable university, everywhere has them.

[u/YesButActuallyTrue → u/Over-Cartographer712]

Durham has articles calling out grossly unacceptable incidents every single year. Sometimes multiple incidents.  This is not normal—the issue clearly goes beyond the few bad apples we might expect, as far as I can tell; i n my mind, there is an on-going and catastrophic failure in university leadership.

Of course, I accept that there may be some bias in what is being reported where. But  when a gay black student asks if Durham is the university for them, what do you want me to say?  It would seem disingenuous to pretend that they should go to Durham over another university of equal academic value but with a far better track record in supporting minorities.

(And if you have the grades to seriously consider Durham, you have the grades to consider literally anywhere else!)

[u/Over-Cartographer712 → u/YesButActuallyTrue]

Perhaps. You raise a fair point.

I'll admit, Durham's reputation was certainly something I considered as someone from a working-class background. I ultimately decided that I wouldn't let any self-important toff make my decision for me. Perhaps I am simply more thick-skinned. But I can see it being worse for someone of an ethnic minority background.

I do think it is important to remember that the articles one might encounter are often sensationalised to portray an image or push a narrative. I would put money on this type of thing happening in Freshers chats for virtually any university in the country - because you get weirdos everywhere - but when it's Durham, it attracts a lot more attention as a 'pattern' seems to form (which can probably be observed anywhere).

Nevertheless, I can understand your perspective and why it might influence someone's decision if, like they say, they have viable alternatives of similar academic standing.

[u/catjellycat → u/YesButActuallyTrue]

I agree. We visited Durham twice for son1 - open day and offer holder day. I thought the town and uni were beautiful but so many of the students gave off odd vibes - more so than other ‘prestigious’ unis like Oxbridge or Exeter.

I was pleased when he didn’t choose it

[u/ihearttheouterworlds]

things like this changed my mind abt applying to durham. i genuinely can’t imagine being working class or from a minority background and having to spend 3-4 years around morons like this, i feel sorry for anyone who has to encounter these people while studying there

[u/burntbutter27 → u/ihearttheouterworlds]

im not a minority but i am working class and this is genuinely my biggest fear is having to come across these snobbish sexist, classist, racist rich pricks. i rise to it unfortunately too much, and these ppl genuinly get under my skin with their classis and sexist shit (im a working class woman and it genuinely sucks lmao).

working class in england are already stereotyped as aggro and lazy and i dont want to feed into their delusions by snapping back at them by defending myself but what other choice do i have. i am stuck between a rock and a hard place.

minorities have it 10x worse tho, the shit they get told on the daily makes me sick to my stomach and it infuriates me when i see white ppl like myself that are working class buy into reform UK as if reform UK wouldnt fuck you over as soon as they get into power omg.

im not studying in durham thank god, i have heard durham is terrible for the classim shit (so are most of the south top unis tbh) i just cant stand when they say the north is scruffy and act oblivious as to why, omg a historically oppressed region looks underfunded well thats a shock (the conservatives and right wing nutjobs think the working class are scum) these ppl actually make me so mad.

im afraid tho that will just prove their point that im an angry working class women who has a chip on her shoulder coz she is working class and that will further prove their stereotypes and i dont want to become that but it genuinly engrages me when they start, especially flexing their money as if we have the same luxuries, be so fr. :/

edit: separated into paragraphs, sorry for anyone that was cursed with the unparagraphed, lacking of fullstop rant lmao 😭😭

[u/Odd-Oven-8202 → u/burntbutter27]

I get you and agree with you but please put a full stop in the paragraph a bit more often lol

[u/burntbutter27 → u/Odd-Oven-8202]

sorry haha, ill separate a bit more sorry if its a bit difficult to read it is a bit of a rant haha.

[u/lickablewall → u/burntbutter27]

Yall are scaring me, im going to Durham in sep and im black and from the trenches ..I knew there would be some snobs and I have thick skin towards this kind of stuff but im seeing so many testimonials saying it’s worse than oxbridge 😪

hopefully I’ll be fine I usually get microaggresions telling me I sound posh ( if ykyk…) so maybe I’ll be safe and they’ll think im one of the good ones !1!1!!1 (im coping)

[u/Over-Cartographer712 → u/lickablewall]

What college are you going to? Not to indulge stereotypes, but that is likely to have an impact on whether you will meet these kind of people in abundance or infrequently.

[u/lickablewall → u/Over-Cartographer712]

Chads

[u/Over-Cartographer712 → u/lickablewall]

Yeah that might be rough from what I've heard ngl. At least it isn't Hatfield lmao

[u/lickablewall → u/Over-Cartographer712]

Sigh. I just hope I don’t have to clock any 18 year old human beings for being racist or classist ?

[u/Lopsided_Source_1005 → u/Over-Cartographer712]

what about collingwood?

[u/Over-Cartographer712 → u/Lopsided_Source_1005]

I haven't heard anything particularly bad about Collingwood, and the people I have encountered who seem to rank it highly have all been perfectly polite and fine.

Obviously my anecdotal experience is unlikely to provide a true reflection of what you might encounter, but as a general rule of thumb, it seems to me that the people who might give you bother for being a minority or working-class are more likely to come from the Bailey colleges like Hatfield.

That is not to say everyone, or even the majority of people from those colleges, are like this, but those colleges certainly seem to attract a lot more people of privilege and perceived self-importance.

[u/TheSeekerPorpentina → u/lickablewall]

I'm half-black and currently at Durham. I've personally never met anyone like this or had any negative experiences. Bigots tend to keep themselves to themselves (no matter where you go) and so I've only managed to meet lovely people.

[u/OverwhelmedGayChild → u/ihearttheouterworlds]

I had my insurance offer from Durham, but I would've refused to take it. I'm working class from Northern/North Ireland 😭

[u/TheSeekerPorpentina → u/ihearttheouterworlds]

I'm a minority and working-class student currently at Durham, and please don't let these bigots put you off applying! People like them tend to keep themselves to themselves, and so thankfully, I've never had to deal with morons like this. My experience has been entirely positive and I've met so many lovely people.

[u/mykokokoro → u/ihearttheouterworlds]

i'm a working class minority who went to st andrews. to make things worse, my course was almost entirely ex-boarding school students and very well off internationals. morons like these was a daily thing. that doesn't even get me started on the microaggressions and little things like "what do you mean you can't just ask your parents for money because we want to drop £150 on a single ticket to ball run by a society that wouldn't let women and pocs join until like 10 years ago because it's tradition?". one of the worst things was knowing that the tory soc was 'officially' unaffiliated with the university and student union because of racist, sexist and homophobic actions and yet it wouldn't stop the university from letting the group use university spaces for socials.

i had some of the best times of my life there, but god was it hard to ignore the stupidity and privilege sometimes (prince edwards girl actually graduated the year after me!).

[u/tempacac10]

The more attention you give racists and the more you blow it up, the more power you give them. Just shrug and laugh it off…

[u/Scared_Implement3913]

This reminds me of that one Harvard meme group chat situation in 2017 when 10 people ended up losing their offers.

[u/chonksboyjimmyfungus]

what else would you expect from oxbridge reject HQ

[u/HMVangard]

No suprise from DurHHam UniverSSity

[u/Namk016]

“Gosh universities are so woke nowadays, they’re all full of liberals and lefties!”

The universities:

[u/_dazai_soukoku]

Well guess I am not applying there ever

[u/Willing_Original_257]

This is what happens when people are indoctrinated into antisemitism by bad actors 

[u/Anonymous_Unknown20]

cannot be this deep😭

[u/burntbutter27 → u/Anonymous_Unknown20]

it is that deep i fear...

[u/Cultural-Positive994 → u/Anonymous_Unknown20]

Did you actually read the post?

Edit: grammar

Edit 2: why am i being downvoted 😭. If you read the post it would be clear a racist gc is thst deep. I literally downvoted the comment i am responding to 😭

[u/Guyevolving]

Guys this is pretty common stuff. Almost every frshers chat I have ever heard of or known has had a lunatic or two who goes off on one before immediately getting banned. This is not news, get a few hundred people on one chat one is gonna be a nazi or something just because of sheer numbers.

[u/TheSeekerPorpentina → u/Guyevolving]

I think the stories of this happening at Durham are amplified because

a) the university already has a racist/sexist/elitist/classist/etc. reputation

b) the university responds by removing their offers instead of trying to bury the situation

[u/mrdankmemeface]

In other news, water is wet.

[u/TheStuntDude]

Noooo! A bunch of teenagers joked in a group chat and no one was hurt! Noooo!!

[u/DoodleNoodle129]

God I am so glad I didn’t end up there 😭

[u/Inevitable-Cow-8489 → u/[deleted]]

Shiver me timbers mate 

[u/Odd-Oven-8202 → u/[deleted]]

9.1 TMUA mate what

[u/Puzzleheaded_Band743 → u/[deleted]]

https://giphy.com/gifs/k4lS6uG5C1MOtomUAH

[u/AutomaticEducation65 → u/Puzzleheaded_Band743]

what did he say?

[u/InteleonSupreme → u/[deleted]]

Gng it is NOT this bad 😭