The Local Student Experience

When people think of a Durham University student, the immediate stereotype for many is a privately-educated, Southern, Oxbridge reject. A state-educated Durham local is not often thought of as the typical Durham student, because we’re in the minority. Many students attending school or sixth-form in Durham don’t consider Durham University as an option for their higher education. This might be because it doesn’t suit their course, or they want to travel away from home. But for many, it’s because Durham University is simply inaccessible to local, working-class students.

To a local student, it can often feel like there are two Durhams. The one you’ve always known, and the one you’re about to experience for at least 3 years of University. Before you begin studying at Durham, it’s difficult to imagine the archaic traditions you’re suddenly thrown into; traditions which exist within Durham University, but have no relation to Durham City. You’ve probably never experienced a formal, or an initiation into a sports team. You may find these traditions alienating, as is the case for many working-class students. The stark contrast between Durham as a University campus and Durham as a city is often not clear to University students who don’t know Durham’s history. But to a local student, it can feel strange to be sat in your college dining hall being served a three course meal and being waited on by local people, while some of the most deprived areas of the country are only a short journey away. It can be difficult to align Durham City with Durham University when there is such a distinct difference in their traditions.

In a lot of ways, the student/local divide can be explained by this experience of two Durhams; two Durhams which exist at the same time, but have no relation to each other. Such a divide was intensified after the Trevs Rugby Social, which planned to trivialise the experience of the Miners’ Strike in the very city which hosts the biggest trade union gathering annually - the Miners’ Gala - and more recently was made clear when Durham County Councillor Jan Blakey condemned Durham University students as “insular and selfish”, stating that “they just do their exams then go away”. Though there will always be a number of students who disrespect the local community, and make no attempt to engage with and understand Durham’s history, much of this frustration should be aimed at the University, not individual students. A University which intends to expand in a dramatic way, with no consideration of how this will impact the local community. A University which fails to provide funding and access to local, financially deprived students. A University which seems to have no place for working-class students in its long term vision. So of course the tension that is felt between local people and University students would be helped if students understood Durham’s history and engaged with the local community, but ultimately much of the frustration should be aimed at the University itself due to the systemic issues of classism within the University.

Though it’s difficult for working-class students, local or not, to adjust to the wild, archaic traditions of Durham University, it’s worth remembering that you are in no way obliged to adhere to these. There are spaces in which you will feel more comfortable, and these spaces can often be found within Durham as a community, rather than as a University. As the Working-Class Students’ Association, we provide alternative spaces to those at the University; spaces which reject the elitist, classist culture.

Chelsea Lowdon (2018), ed. Frank Simpson (2019)