I’ll be going into my final year at Cambridge University in a month’s time and I truly can’t believe that I’ve got this far. University has been an eye-opening experience. I have met wonderful people and have learnt a lot about my subject, but unfortunately, I have also learnt a lot about how my university, and its colleges, “supports” its students. I ended up being suspended less than halfway through my first year due to how my college perceived my mental health. Knowing that the suspension was not right, I complained to the OIA which is the one body in England (and Wales) that oversees student complaints. After a few months, the OIA concluded that my complaint was justified. However, my college – Clare College – disagreed and tried to appeal the result. When they failed, they refused to comply with a “student-centred recommendation” that had been set because Clare College decided that all the distress that I’d experienced because of their actions was in my “best interests”. As a result, they are now the first institution ever to refuse to comply with an OIA recommendation.
Although I haven’t posted many of them, I’ve written quite a bit about my experience. The first piece was written about a month after I was suspended in February 2020 and the most recent one was written in May 2021, and these are all in the subsequent pages (including one that is my painfully cringey). I’ve been reading back through these recently and it’s been fascinating to see how my views and emotions related to the situation have evolved. In the first piece, I was angry but hopeful and I thought my college had just made a mistake. A year being involved in student campaigns showed me that the university often reacts to aspects of my identity — as a Black person or LGBT+ person or person with long-term health issues — in a very harmful manner. By the time I wrote the final piece, I’d learnt that the bad treatment of students at my college and the university is not uncommon, and the anger at my college had developed into anger at the entire system.
Unfortunately for me, I do not trust my college at all anymore. I find it incredibly difficult to even walk around the college let alone go to them for support. Sometimes I think it’d be best if I changed college, but I honestly don’t know if anywhere else would be better. Luckily, my Director of Studies and Tutor have been incredibly supportive and helpful, and without them I might have dropped out of Cambridge altogether.
Despite my bad experience, I have managed to learn from it. I learnt that authority figures are not always right, and can in fact be very wrong, and I’ve learnt just how detrimental a bad policy can be. This was the first time that I got interested in policy, and now I am a member of the NHS Youth Forum, have worked with several charities, have been an NUS delegate and have got involved in a few university campaigns.
Personally, I’m still looking forward to going back for my final year this October, but compared to this time 3 years ago, my expectations are drastically lower. When I graduate, I hope I’ll be able to look back fondly on my time at Clare College but frankly, I doubt it.
Relevant documents and articles
OIA Annual Report 2020 (look under “Compliance”)
OIA Annual Statement – University of Cambridge
Varsity: Clare College refused to reimburse student following ‘harrowing’ suspension
Clare College refuses to pay £3,000 compensation to a student it wrongly suspended
Contents
Page 2 – 28/05/21 – They don’t care about us
Page 3 – 19/12/20 – Discrimination?
Page 4 – 11/04/20 – Dear Clare
Page 5 – 29/02/20 – My college could have killed me
Black Mental Me 
That happens in Canada and the US today, particularly if it involves students who are suicidal. It’s stigma, pure and simple.
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