Does removing Leopold statues ensure equity at Flemish universities?
The extensive public reactions to the leaked video of teachers at Erasmus college in Brussels discussing oral exams of students and to the Constitutional Court decision that permits headscarf ban in higher education show that there is still much work to achieve equity and inclusion in Flemish higher education. Universities and colleges showed their support by suspending teachers who made insulting and discriminatory comments about students and by positively responding to a tweet asking if they would accept students with a headscarf. These supportive actions by higher education institutions are important, yet, there remain serious issues that need to be addressed to create truly inclusive Flemish universities and colleges.
One fundamental problem relates to the significant underrepresentation of students and teaching staff from diverse backgrounds in higher education. During the last academic year, around 13 % of students had a migration background at KU Leuven and Ghent University and around 19 % at the University of Antwerp. This percentage also often includes students with a West-European migration origin. Despite adopting policies on equality and non-discrimination, most universities are still based on an elitist system that values and serves West European descent students from middle-class backgrounds. The lack of a representative demographic of students and staff reflects the institutional inertia and the absence of a serious commitment to achieve equity in higher education.
Many Turkish-Belgian students are exhausted because of the stereotypical questions and discriminatory remarks that either reduce them to their ethnic identities or deny their Belgian identities.
Such institutionalized unequal power dynamics in higher education allow for the reproduction of interpersonal discrimination in the very institutions that are expected to challenge them. As shown by the video of teachers at Erasmus college, ‘white’ teachers problematize and mock with students’ cultural and social differences. This shows a deep lack of awareness and knowledge among teachers in dealing with cultural diversity and difference. I found similar issues in my doctoral research which focused on Turkish-Belgian ethnic minority students’ social experiences at a Flemish university. While interpersonal discrimination is often enacted in subtle ways, their cumulative impact on students is huge. When a Turkish origin student made a small grammar (de/het) mistake during an oral exam, for instance, her belonging in Belgium was immediately thrown into question by a professor. Many Turkish-Belgian students are exhausted because of the stereotypical questions and discriminatory remarks that either reduce them to their ethnic identities or deny their Belgian identities.
The widespread and persistent nature of such discrimination experiences and their devastating impact require urgent institutional action. In addition to working on increasing representation of diversity among teaching staff and students, institutions of higher education need to engage in other measures to facilitate the inclusion of underrepresented students. For instance, university professors in Flemish universities are not obliged to receive any training that could help them develop their skills in critically examining the role of their unconscious bias with regards to societal inequities. With the support of obligatory training, teachers can offer more meaningful and relevant learning experiences to all students and help them develop a more critical consciousness of the society they live in.
During the last academic year, around 13 % of students had a migration background at KU Leuven and Ghent University and around 19 % at the University of Antwerp.
Another step is the integration of course material in the curriculum that enhances students’ knowledge about issues relating to cultural diversity and promotes deeper engagement and critical learning about it. Turkish-Belgian students in my research referred to the lack of courses that reflect their experiences and realities. Courses that promote critical learning about the history of labour immigration or the colonial history of Belgium from non-white perspectives are critical to foster intergroup understanding and knowledge. These courses can also relieve students with an ethnic/racial minority background from the “burden” of educating their non-minority peers and help Belgian descent students to become more aware of their privileges and social inequities.
The measures that are needed to create an inclusive higher education environment is not limited to in-class. The experiences of Turkish-Belgian students show that mainstream campus norms and activities are not necessarily inclusive of students’ distinct needs and interests. Many students engage in different strategies to be accepted by their Belgian origin peers, such as avoiding to speak in Turkish or removing their headscarf when they go out. While Flemish universities and colleges declared on Twitter that students with a headscarf are welcome on their campus, female students in my research said that they do not necessarily feel comfortable enough to put on their headscarves at the university as they fear negative reactions. There is increasing awareness about the distinct needs of religious minority students by, for instance, offering spaces for prayer and allowing more flexibility in exam dates during fasting periods. Nonetheless, students from diverse backgrounds are still pressured to adapt to educational environments where they are significantly underrepresented and their cultural identity is not fully acknowledged and valued.
The lack of institutional response to such persistent systemic inequity and discrimination cannot be compensated by only offering support services to discriminated students or organizing celebrations of minority students’ cultural festivities. Universities must think about “what they teach, how they teach and who teaches it.” Similarly, removing the statue of King Leopold II to encourage confrontation with the colonial past has only symbolic significance. It is high time that universities go beyond such symbolic measures and urgently take up concrete actions to create a representative educational environment where all students are offered equitable experiences. Such committed actions of today will determine whether the systemic inequity and discrimination will be overlooked and denied by the very institutions that need to fight against them.
