The University of St Andrews Faces Accusations of Classism
Viral post regarding classism at St Andrews sparks conversations among students and the public as the University is ranked #1 in the UK.
On Friday 18th September The University of St Andrews was ranked number one in the UK by The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2027. The Guide ranks universities across multiple different categories including: student satisfaction scores, research quality, demanding entry tariffs, international outlook, and the strong prospects of its graduates.
However, the arrival of The Sunday Times rankings comes amid accusations of “anti-Scottish classism” at the University from former scholarship student Sophie Rose Jenkins. In a now viral post with over 2000 likes on LinkedIn, Jenkins shared her story and explained why she decided to leave the University after her second year. In the post, she wrote, “I expected the bullying from the other students, but I wasn’t prepared for how I’d be treated by university staff.” Jenkins elaborated in a recent article in The National where she shared that she had experienced a lack of mental health support, accent discrimination in tutorials and stated that “classist, anti-Scottish attitudes felt systemic among university staff.”
A recent article in The Tab revealed that the University of St Andrews has the lowest percentage of Scottish students among Scottish universities with only 28.2%. Whereas the University of Edinburgh reports 30.4% and the University of Glasgow reports 50.9%.
Jenkins took to LinkedIn once again to express her opinion on the recent rankings stating that she felt real student stories were being ‘dismissed’ and ‘hidden away to maintain [the University’s] perfect reputation.’ Jenkins’ story has garnered national attention as Scottish TV Show Host, Lorraine Kelly weighed in on the issue. Kelly commented under The National’s article — “This makes me both sad and angry. I thought things had got better, sadly not.” Kelly, like Jenkins, is also from Glasgow and faced similar accent discrimination in her career while she worked at BBC Scotland in the 1980s, during which she was mocked for her “offensive” Glaswegian accent.
Accentism is when “a person is unfairly judged, treated, or commented on because of how they speak” (The Accentism Project). Similar reports of accentism have been found across other top Scottish universities. Just last year STV News published an article interviewing students from the University of Edinburgh about their experience with accentism. Students reported having their accents mocked by members of staff and peers as well as feeling that they needed to “tone down” or “change” their accents. As a result of such reports the University of Edinburgh provided staff with training sessions on accent bias.
The university environment often heightens issues of accentism. According to a 2022 report by the Sutton Trust 35% of university students reported being self-conscious about their accents, a higher proportion than among university applicants (24%) and professionals in the workplace (23%). It can go as far as making people change their native way of speaking in order to fit in (BBC). In a social media video The National interviewed students at the University of St Andrews to get their opinion on Jenkins’ story. All four students said that they were not surprised that a student had accused the institution of having a “culture of anti-Scottish classism.” In the UK, accents don’t just tell you where a person might be from, but can indicate “someone’s income and the school they went to,” mentioned one student (The National).
A University of St Andrews spokesperson told The National, “We’re a Scottish university, Scottish students are our heritage and lifeblood, and every year we take in the maximum number of Scots we’re allowed to under the Scottish government rules. Scottish students make up over 30% of our student community.” According to the spokesperson, the University had reached out to Jenkins following her post on LinkedIn.
It remains to be seen whether or not these conversations will prompt any action from within the University.
Comments