Edinburgh students told not to be 'snobs' to poorer peers

Edinburgh University has warned privileged students not to be "snobs" towards their working-class peers. The university has admitted there is a problem of class-related prejudice on campus, with poorer students being "inadvertently or deliberately shamed by more privileged students".

- JABED AHMED

New guidance issued by the university said affected students include those admitted as part of the “widening participation” policy – under which entry requirements are lowered for people from deprived backgrounds. The guidance, aimed at counteracting socio-economic “microaggressions”, calls on wealthier students to create a “more inclusive environment”.

Examples of prejudice given include comments about clothing and “lack of knowledge or regional accent”.

An unnamed student who qualified under the policy is quoted in the guidance, saying they had been told: “You can’t be working class because you’re at university.”

“We were discussing inheritance tax in class, and people have explicitly said that they have more money because they ‘just worked harder’,” the student said. “My father is a manual labourer but I don’t think he works any less hard than their dad at his desk job.”