US civil rights activist the Rev Jesse Jackson today challenged Oxford University to help more black people into the university as part of a visit to the UK this week to promote racial justice.
Rev Jackson took part in the launch of the new ASPIRE initiative by the Regent's Park College, which will conduct research into the reasons behind the low numbers of young black people entering into higher education in the UK, as well as the steps that can be taken to raise aspirations and expectations of the benefits of further education.
Earlier in the week, Rev Jackson told Christian Today that the small percentage of black students applying to Oxford University was "embarrassing". Out of the almost 10,000 applications to Oxford University from within the UK last year, just 31 were black Caribbean applicants. Across 123 of the UK's universities, meanwhile, black Caribbean people make up less than one per cent of the total student population.
Speaking at the launch of ASPIRE, Rev Jackson said that the responsibility of reversing the statistics lay with the universities as well as students.
Black students at university had an obligation to do well and help bring more black students into higher education, Rev Jackson said.
Turning to the universities, he said that it was in their interest to improve access to black and minority ethnic people.
"God made a diverse world. If the university is not diverse, it is theologically challenged," he said. "It's in the university's interest to lend a hand...it's credibility is on the line."
Rev Jackson continued by urging universities to extend their support for their black students beyond graduation and into the job market.
"What are their options when they get out?" he challenged. "The real fight [for black students] is once you get out of Oxford, out of Harvard."
The not-for-profit Rainbow/PUSH coalition, set up and led by Rev Jackson, is contemplating a new scheme involving the purchase of shares to allow black people access to shareholders' meetings in an effort to increase racial diversity within large corporations.
Rev Jackson also called for 'positive inclusion' to replace 'positive discrimination' as a means "to offset years of race discrimination and, for too long, negative gender discrimination".
