Deconstructing Class @ Leeds

Universities aren’t doing enough to talk about class — students know it, staff know it, everyone knows it. Here at LUU, we’re deconstructing what it means to be working class at Leeds, to make sure the University are held accountable for making studying at Leeds accessible to all.

As some of you may remember, back in November I hosted a panel discussion discussing the issue of class within the University. This panel went really well, and really showed that we need to start talking more honestly and openly about class on campus. Many discussions were started at the panel discussion, with plenty of issues being identified, both with the University and wider culture. We discussed the ways in which a lack of representation within staff affects how working class students see themselves, how clubs and societies can often be inaccessible to those from working class backgrounds, and how ‘institutional snobbery’ keeps working class students from progressing within University.

This panel was far from the first piece of work done around class in Students’ Unions — earlier in 2018, York’s Working Class and Social Mobility Officers, Connor Drake and Sean Price-Regan, hosted a conference around class, with a full day of events focused around working class culture at Universities. Shakira Martin, the President of NUS, launched a poverty commission to look at the ways in which Universities are structurally against the working class accessing higher education — in the report, she states that ‘ the dominant culture of higher education is middle class, and working class students can be made to feel they do not ‘belong’, ranging from feeling disconnected from their peers to being bullied by other students because of their class.’

The need for open and honest discussion when talking about the experiences of working class students has been highlighted, both within Martin’s report and Drake and Regan’s event, and the attention they received. Due to this demand, I put forward a policy to Better Union Forum titled ‘Should LUU do more to support Working Class students’. I am delighted to announce that this motion passed, with 12 votes for and 3 against, and will now become policy for 3 years. From this result, we can see that there is a student demand to continue the investigation into being Working Class at University, specifically in Leeds. Over the coming months, we will be putting together a series of events, workshops, screenings and videos to deconstruct class on campus.

Next week, we are hosting a series of focus groups to see what YOU want to change. They are being held at

• 13.00–15.00 on Monday 8th in Room 1
• 16.00–18.00 on Tuesday 9th in Room 1
• 14.00–16.00 on Wednesday 10th in Room 1

If you identify as Working Class and want to change the way we speak about class on campus, please get involved by emailing me at t.e.scott@leeds.ac.uk, or by popping into the Exec Office to have a chat. I’m really excited to get this conversation started, and to make sure we do more to support students here at Leeds — please get involved and let me know what conversations you want to be having about class.