Durham student called a ‘dirty n****’ by society member on Equalities Committee

The email from the university to Samantha

Samantha has criticised the university’s handling of the situation, and claims it was labelled a “Level 1 offence (aka. a lower level) – in what world is calling someone a dirty n-word not serious??”.

She goes on to say: “An apology and no-contact order isn’t sufficient. They claim to have a zero-tolerance racism policy, yet they clearly don’t take it seriously”.

Racism has no place in society.

Durham is supposedly one of the top academic institutions in the world, yet they fail to tackle even the most clear-cut racist incidents.

I feel angry, I feel degraded, and I feel let down.

Do better, Durham.@durham_uni

— Samantha Smith (@SamanthaTaghoy) February 21, 2023

In a statement to The Tab Durham, Durham University has responded to Samantha’s posts on social media, saying: “We are deeply sorry that one of our students has experienced abuse.

“We do not tolerate racism in any form and entirely condemn language of this kind.

“These allegations have been investigated by both Durham University and the Durham Union Society. Sanctions have been imposed in line with University policies and processes which go much further than those disclosed on social media.”

In an updated statement, Durham University has added: “We are concerned that the apology was not commensurate with the very serious nature of the offence. We will learn from this. In future, as part of our disciplinary processes, we will endeavour to ensure that responding parties offer meaningful apologies which fully acknowledge what has gone wrong, and accept full responsibility for this.”