To deny or dismantle? Responding to victims of targeted hostility in higher education
| Published date | 01 May 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/02697580231220389 |
| Author | Emily Wertans,Neil Chakraborti |
| Date | 01 May 2024 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/02697580231220389
International Review of Victimology
2024, Vol. 30(2) 223 –239
© The Author(s) 2024
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DOI: 10.1177/02697580231220389
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To deny or dismantle?
Responding to victims of
targeted hostility in higher
education
Emily Wertans and Neil Chakraborti
University of Leicester, UK
Abstract
With the increasing diversification of higher education, the volume of targeted hostility that
students are subjected to on the basis of their identities or perceived ‘differences’ has
increased. Typically overlooked within conventional studies of hate crime, incidents of targeted
victimisation within higher education are likely to mirror, if not exceed levels exhibited within
broader society. Nonetheless, with an absence of robust research evidence exploring this
phenomenon, institutions’ responses are often varied, ineffective, or absent. Through a mixed-
methods approach involving a survey of 565 student respondents and 39 follow-up interviews
undertaken at a UK-based university, this article discusses the nature, impact, and support needs
of victims of targeted hostility within higher education. The article unpacks the commonalities
and distinctions between victimisation encountered within a campus environment as compared
with wider society. Drawing from this study’s research evidence, we argue that while the nature
of victimisation within universities holds significant parallels to equivalent encounters within wider
society, there are specific challenges within higher education, which can amplify the risk, fear, and
impacts of targeted hostility. These challenges require responses within higher education, which
acknowledge and prioritise evidence-based, victim-led interventions for prevention, reporting,
and support.
Keywords
Hate crime, targeted hostility, higher education, students, university
Introduction
Recent decades have seen significant and sustained growth in student numbers at universities, with
student bodies becoming increasingly diverse (HM Government, 2020). Engagement schemes
Corresponding author:
Emily Wertans, School of Criminology, University of Leicester, University Road, Fielding Johnson Building, Leicester LE1
7RH, UK.
Email: eew20@leicester.ac.uk
1220389IRV0010.1177/02697580231220389International Review of VictimologyWertans and Chakraborti
research-article2023
Article
224 International Review of Victimology 30(2)
such as widening participation, scholarships, and student loans have enabled a much broader cross-
section of society to access higher education. As such, the representation of minoritised and histori-
cally disadvantaged groups continues to grow within all levels of university study. For example,
Office for Students (OfS, 2022) data show that the numbers of undergraduate entrants in England
and Wales describing themselves as Disabled (17.8%), religiously or spiritually active (53.8%),
Asian (14%), Black (9.4%), and of mixed ethnicity (5.1%) are at their highest ever levels.
Nonetheless, despite higher education having become a more diverse space, the needs and experi-
ences of minoritised and historically disadvantaged groups within higher education remain under-
explored. This is particularly evident within the context of targeted hostility directed towards
members of these groups on the basis of their identity or perceived ‘difference’.
Just as it is within wider society, being subjected to targeted hostility is a very real risk for mem-
bers of minoritised communities within higher education institutions. There are numerous factors,
which underpin incidents of targeted hostility within both cyberspace and the physical world.
Indeed, studies of online and interpersonal hate crime have illustrated that attacks against the
‘other’ feed off economic instability, political scaremongering, and media stereotyping to the point
where violence can become a mechanism used to legitimise and reinforce power dynamics between
dominant and subordinate groups and to create cultures of fear among those who are visibly or
audibly ‘different’ (see, inter alia, Chakraborti and Garland, 2012; Perry, 2001; Williams, 2021).
However, the ways in which hate incidents play out within higher education are commonly over-
looked. In this context, the diversification of the student body within higher education has increased
the opportunity for targeted hostility within a unique space that was historically not constructed
with diversity in mind (Dyke and Tester, 2014). With perceptions of power, ‘otherness’, and per-
ceived vulnerability all key factors within hate-based and identity-targeted offending, the increased
numbers of new and different groups entering a once heterogeneous space can result in a backlash
and amplification of prejudice (Perry, 2011).
Research into unacceptable behaviour in higher education has typically focused on sexual vio-
lence or a particular set of identity characteristics (see Humphreys and Towl, 2020; Universities
UK (UUK), 2016, 2020). This article draws from a growing body of hate crime scholarship, which
examines these behaviours through the lens of ‘difference’ and perceived vulnerability to under-
stand the context of targeting in this space and as targeted hostility to include non-criminal inci-
dents and give primacy to victims’ interpretations (Burch, 2021; Chakraborti and Garland, 2012;
Colliver, 2021; Hardy and Chakraborti, 2019). Using this broader framework to acknowledge both
the diverse range of victims affected by harassment in higher education and the diverse range of
unacceptable behaviours which they are subjected to, this article highlights that experiences of
victimisation are increasingly commonplace for university students. At the same time, institutional
responses are often non-existent or at best, hesitant, for reasons including a legacy of denial about
the salience of such issues in higher education; a fear of reputational damage which would deter
future students and affect relationships with external stakeholders; and the continued ‘invisibility’
of hate in higher education settings. As a result, a comprehensive understanding of the nature,
scale, and impact of this victimisation remains elusive, and cycles of prejudice continue. This arti-
cle seeks to address an important gap through its analysis of incidents as experienced by students
targeted on the basis of a diverse range of identity characteristics and other markers of ‘difference’.
In doing so, it illustrates ways in which higher education institutions can dismantle cultures of
denial, fear, and indifference, and move towards a more nuanced position, which is shaped by their
students’ lived realities and expectations.
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