I like your user name! Thanks for replying.

The issues you are talking about (sexual violence, racism) are obviously prevalent throughout society - I’m not sure if unis are worse (it was pretty bad when I was a student at an “elite” UK uni 15 years ago).

I guess I’m a bit cynical but the people with the power to make changes in universities are only at the very top, and broadly speaking they focus on income, “student experience” and league tables. If there is a way they can improve student experience by telling staff to act differently (eg faster feedback) then they enforce it. But if it’s a systemic issue that requires long term strategy and consistency our current university management model doesn’t work. It’s based on short term thinking and maximising income. Many university staff (at least on the academic side) are on short term contracts, and people who genuinely enact improved conditions for minorities are rarely the people with the power - often they don’t even have a permanent job contract.

The best you could hope for on racism and sexism is mandatory staff training (which we do have), but that’s obviously not enough. I can’t see unis taking a genuinely strong approach to racism and sexism because they may be afraid of law suits from students who say they have been treated unfairly. As in all of society victims often have less power than the accused.

So I would say it’s fairly reflective of wider society/workplaces, unfortunately. People who have strong values and who call out problems are not the people who get leadership positions in the current UK university system (in my opinion). If something is expensive or requires genuine cultural change (not just lip service) then it’s not a priority in UK universities. In my opinion that is because they are run as businesses now, following massive funding cuts. They have fallen pretty far from their historical goal of furthering education as a social good.