University sued by diversity officer for discrimination

An equality and diversity officer who successfully sued her university employer for discrimination has criticised the sector's failures to tackle racism in an exclusive interview with The Independent.

- NADINE WHITE

Nina Rahel, 59, who worked at the University of the Arts London, was forced out of her job of nine years after she pointed out the organisation’s failure to deal with racism complaints or support Black and Asian students, an employment tribunal ruled in July.

Shortly after raising this concern and flagging other issues within the university, Ms Rahel was informed that she was losing her job in a restructuring that yielded additional roles but had no room for her.

Speaking out for the first time, the professional described her claim against her ex-employers as a necessary but taxing “David versus Goliath” battle.

“I had no choice but to lodge a claim,” Ms Rahel, who lives in London, told The Independent.

“It was so awful what they did, and it was the fact that it happened within the diversity team, too.

“I was outraged at being treated so poorly and it didn't make any sense. At the time, I felt like a very lone voice and as though I was losing my mind.

“It seemed to be so outrageous that you can have a restructure of the diversity team, and increase the number of staff yet there’s no room for me, despite my years of experience.”

Following global Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020, Ms Rahel started to raise concerns about the university’s lack of appropriate response, including an inadequate anti-racism strategy and the lack of support for students.

In August 2020, Ms Rahel was asked to complete a planning, review and appraisal form which was used to provide employee feedback on issues of wellbeing, achievements, challenges plus more, which would be uploaded to the HR system as required by the PRA policy.

In the form, Ms Rahel said the organisation was incapable of giving a correct response to accusations of racism, giving an example of them offering coaching, instead of counselling, to students and staff who experienced racism.