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Donations worth £4.3m channelled through American alumni organisation
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been a major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions due to its business activities. Durham University openly advertises careers with BP on their website. A number of major law firms also frequently donate money to the University including Norton Rose Fulbright LLP, Baker McKenzie, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, Forsters LLP, Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, Hogan Lovells LLP and Clyde & Co LLP. £4.3m of donations have been channelled through DunelmUSA, a US-based charity that pools donations from benefactors in the United States to Durham University.
Where the origin of donations is known, a large proportion were awarded to scholarships and research grants. The large number of donations from religious organisations and law firms may be influenced by Durham Theology department’s standing in the world rankings, who have maintained a top 5 place over the past four years according to QS World Rankings.
However, high-level data indicates that roughly half of donations, some £18m, in the fiveyear period between 2014/15 and 2018/19 were directed to capital projects. The vast majority of these came from individuals rather than organisations. 59% of funds donated from individuals were directed towards capital projects (£12.3m) compared with only 32% of donated funds from trusts, companies, and other organisations (£5.8m). The records show four £1m+ donations from individuals towards capital projects in this period.
Durham University was reluctant to hand over the names of its major donors, believing that doing so would violate the Data Protection Act. Previous Palatinate investigations have also been rebuffed, as the University claimed it would “suffer commercial detriment” if the data was revealed. However, following a complaint made to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the University agreed to reveal the names of organisations that have donated over £10,000 over the past three years.
A number of donations to the University in the past have resulted in controversy, including donations from British American Tobacco, the Iranian government and the US State Department.
Professor Stuart Corbridge, Vice-Chancellor, told Palatinate: “We are proud that philanthropic giving to Durham University has increased substantially in recent years.
“This is a tangible sign of the levels of affection and engagement our global network of alumni and benefactors has with our University, and their shared belief in our mission and values.”
“Almost all of our philanthropic support is directed towards providing direct financial support to our students, pursuing transformative research, and nurturing an inspiring environment for our staff, students, and our community partners.
“We have rigorous policies in place to support our approach, including our Gift Acceptance Policy, which is publicly available and reviewed regularly.”
(Amana Moore)
Seun Twins elected for second term
Theo Burman News Editor
Seun Twins, this year’s SU President, has been elected for a second term after the most contested presidential election in four years.
Twins ran on a platform that built on her work combatting the adverse effects of Covid-19 and Durham’s culture, which she pledged to address in the continuation of her flagship policy, the Culture Commission.
Jonah Graham was elected as Welfare and Liberation Officer, Declan Merrington as Postgraduate Academic Officer, Jack Ballingham as Opportunities Officer and Charlie Procter as Undergraduate Academic Officer.
Additionally, Ola Wojciechowska, Meg Wishart, Robert Smith, and Kathryn Ellison were elected as SU Trustees, and Bianca Drujescu. Aditya Lathar, Akansha Agrawal, and Alexandra Nita were elected as NUS delegates.
St Chad’s College had the highest turnout with just over 36%, and is set to win the SU’s prize of an address from Jackie Weaver who found fame last month after a virtual meeting of Handforth Parish Council went viral.
The election had a 14.16% turnout
Twins ran against Joe Simmons, Aditya Lathar, and James Burton for the position, with RON also an option.
However, no student applied to run an official RON campaign, despite changes in the SU election rules allowing for this. Last year, 58% of students voted for the RON option, which was subsequently eliminated, citing campaign rules violations.
The election had a 14.16% turnout, with undergraduates having the highest at 17.61%. Seun led in every round in the SU’s transferable vote system, with the final round coming down to her and James Burton, the St Chad’s JCR President. In the first round, RON was eliminated. In the second and third, Joe Simmons and Aditya Lathar were eliminated.
News 28.5% more first-class degrees awarded in 2019-20 than previous academic year
Toby Donegan-Cross
Deputy Editor
Durham University awarded 28.5% more first-class degrees at the end of the 2019-20 academic year compared to the previous year, statistics on the University website reveal. 41% of those graduating last year received a first-class classification, compared to 31.9% in 2018-19. In raw numbers, this works out to 1,742 first class degrees awarded in 2019-20 and 1,370 in 2018-19.
Since more students received first-class classifications, proportionally fewer received upper-second class degrees (2:1s) – 50.4% in 2019-20, compared to 54% the previous year. Lower-second class (2:2s) were also reduced from 295 students in 2018-19 to 182 in 2019-20, representing a 36.8% decrease. The increase in first-class degrees is likely to partly owe to the adoption of the ‘safety net’ policy in April 2020 which sought to mitigate against the adverse effects of the pandemic on student learning outcomes.
The policy, which was announced after a petition calling for its adoption accrued 3,500 signatures, stipulated that upon completing their final exams, students would receive two separate marks – one which factored in their assessments completed during the pandemic, and one which did not. Students were awarded their degree based on the higher value. As a consequence, assessments which were affected by the pandemic could only raise overall degree classification.
Other measures included the majority adoption of 48hour exams, and as such, these were mostly open-book. One requirement was that students pass their exam in order to gain their degree.
Professor Alan Houston, ViceProvost (Education), Durham University, said: “Our awards reflect the quality of our students and the research-led education they receive at Durham. We admit exceptional students and enable each and every one of them to achieve their best throughout their time with us.
“External examiners consistently commend the rigour of our degrees. We are committed to maintaining this, including during these challenging times, and are scrupulous in decisions made regarding our degree classifications.
“Our students are fully deserving of the high grades which they work hard for and last year our external examiners consistently praised the high quality of student work. “Our graduates are also some of the most sought-after nationally, demonstrating that employers and postgraduate recruiters place high value in a Durham degree classification.
“We fully recognise the impact of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. This is why we have introduced a range of measures for 2021, drawing upon our experience last year and working in collaboration with Durham Students’ Union, to provide an academic safety net for students while upholding the integrity of their degrees.”
Last month, like last year, the University announced the adoption of a series of measures to mitigate against the effects of the pandemic.
These include students being able to submit an academic impact statement for dissertations, major projects, or other key assessments if they have been adversely affected by academic factors.
It also means that students will not be required to provide evidence when requesting a seven-day extension for submitting summative coursework. Additionally, if a student’s average mark is five or more points below the previous year, their record will be scrutinised for Covid-19 effects.
Prof. Houston went on to say that the measures have been amended to “support students fairly while upholding the integrity of their degrees,” while also recognising “individual circumstances, including the mental and physical barriers to study, faced by many.”
The increase represents the most significant grade inflation since at least 2003-4, which is as far back as public records go, and some have shared concerns that the rise in so-called ‘good’ degrees (a 2:1 or first) devalues Durham degrees.
One student told Palatinate, “Grade inflation hurts students. Now a 2:1 is expected from you. Employers in the job market won’t take a 2:1 seriously unless you have the accompanying extracurricular work experience and personality to fit the company. So unless students kill themselves going the extra mile to help them stand out, your average grade is simply not good enough anymore.
(Durham University)
“And it’s not only affecting our job applications, but of course this impacts our mental health. When everyone is getting the higher grades, you obviously need to work harder to compete with them, else you see yourself and are seen as a failure.”
Nailah Haque, Durham Students’ Union’s Undergraduate Academic Officer, told Palatinate: “I personally don’t think we should worry about grade inflation, especially if it’s at the expense of students.
“I do think the increase in firsts that we saw last year was because students were able to perform better in online exams for whatever reason – not being in pressurised environments like an exam hall, having more time to prep or just knowing you have more time than say two to three hours to complete the assessment.
“I think last year’s measures definitely provided some sort of reassurance to students that exam boards and the University were considering how students had been impacted by Covid-19 and how this could have implicated their grades.”
Durham students launch campaign against public sexual harassment on campus
Keziah Smith News Reporter
Two Durham University students, Honor Douglas and Matilda Hubble, have launched a campaign against public sexual harassment (PSH) within Durham city.
The campaign, named ‘Our Durham Streets Now’, branches from the national grassroot organisation ‘Our Streets Now’, a movement with the objective of making PSH a criminal offence. The two students are pushing for a harassment-free education, and propose working with the University to make Durham’s streets and campus areas a safer place for all students.
Honor and Matilda launched ‘Our Durham Streets Now’ after a friend experienced sexual harassment on the streets of Durham. In fact, a survey carried out by ONS has revealed that 84% of students are subjected to some kind of harassment over the course of their university experience.
The survey went on to reveal that 49% have been harassed travelling to or around the university.
‘Our Durham Streets Now’ responded to these statistics by saying, “We’re going to be working hard with the University and around Durham to change this devastating reality.”
Matilda comments: “I’ve never felt 100% safe on my own, especially in somewhere I don’t know. It makes me scared, but it’s not something that’s going to stop me fighting against it.”
Although the group acknowledge that Durham Students’ Union (DSU) has set up ‘Pincident’, a platform where victims can anonymously report episodes of sexual harassment or abuse, Matilda fears that many students don’t know about this, especially first-years.
She further warns that some students don’t report incidents as PSH is not a criminal offence in its own right.
When talking exclusively to Palatinate, the campaign group explains: “PSH is often shrugged off as a minor incident, or even as a ‘compliment’. However, each experience contributes to a perception of sexual violence, which can affect people for years to come.
“In Durham, PSH is a perennial problem, and recent reporting on Durham’s sexist culture has highlighted the fact that this problem is still endemic at our university and will continue to be so unless we increase awareness and demand both institutional and cultural change.”
‘Our Durham Streets Now’ also proposes working with authorities and transport providers to reduce occurrences of PSH, and are pushing to appoint a full time sexual assault and harassment advisor at Durham.
Professor Graham Towl, Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Colleges and Student Experience), commented: “The safety and wellbeing of our students is our first priority, both on campus and in the city, and we utterly condemn sexual violence, misconduct and harassment.
“We would really welcome seeing further details of this survey so we can, together with Durham Students’ Union and partners in Durham City, fully consider the concerns identified.”
