Cambridge academic stops teaching students amid allegations of porters’ racism

Dr Priyamvada Gopal, an English teaching fellow based at King’s College, has decided to stop teaching following a series of incidents with the porters who were based at her college.

Gopal reports porters blocked her entry into the college on numerous occasions and refused to call her “Dr Gopal”, as requested, instead of “madam”.

The academic subsequently took to Twitter to talk about her experiences and to announce her decision to stop supervising students as her “attempts to raise this [issue] with fellows and with its management verbally and in writing have failed to elicit any changes”.

“With deep regret but with 17 years of consideration behind it, I have finally decided on my behalf & of other people of colour…to refuse to supervise any students [at King’s College],” she tweeted.

Gopal’s actions led to an outpouring of responses from current and former students who had received similar treatment. One former student stated on Twitter that “the porters liked to throw their weight around” and their “suspicion didn’t fall equally”.

With deep regret but with 17 years of consideration behind it, I have finally decided on my behalf & of other people of colour…to refuse to supervise any students

– Dr Gopal

Instances have been reported where students from ethnic minorities were late to their classes at King’s College due to the being “constantly stopped to show ID” and harassed by porters whose role it is to control entry into buildings as well as maintenance tasks within the college.

Dr Gopal said she had received a message from a King’s College BAME student who said the issue of “racial profiling and unconscious bias at the King’s gate is something we are aware of and are trying our absolute hardest to find some sort of resolution to this”.

They went on to say that “we have collected testimonials of many other students and staff who have experienced horrible unfair treatment from the staff at the front of King’s”.

In response to this incident regarding Gopel, a spokeswoman for King’s College released a statement stating: “King’s prides itself on being an inclusive and tolerant place where students and staff of all backgrounds can feel secure’.

The College also told The Independent the incident was not racist and an investigation “found no wrongdoing on our party” as every visitor was required to show identification before entering the premises.

Attempts were made by Michael Proctor, the Provost of King’s College, to reach out to Gopal which the academic believes only occurred due to her story being covered by the national media.