Following a surge of coronavirus related racism, SUSU have released a statement.
In the post, SUSU have reminded students that they have a zero tolerance for racism. Despite this, the number of racist attacks towards Chinese students has increased following from coronavirus anxiety.
Recently, the university have been working with Leader of Southampton City Council, the Chinese Association of Southampton, as well as the Chinese Student Scholars Association in a number of ways, including initiatives ‘to raise awareness of the fact Coronavirus-related racism is unacceptable, fundraise for Wuhan, and to remind our community to treat each other with respect.’
SUSU also took the opportunity to reinforce the importance of their Welfare and Diversity training that was introduced for societies, and will be working on creating information on how to ‘not be a bystander.’
During their statement, SUSU said:
We urge everyone to use this time to practice compassion and kindness, and remember that everybody is affected by the current situation. SUSU are still operating, working from home and working with the University and local community to ensure our students are protected, advocated for and represented.
This follows on from SUSU’s #ExpectRespect policy that was put into motion at the beginning of February. One of the aims of the policy was to create a support tool in order to help people report incidents, which can be accessed here.
