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Leeds Beckett Professor named as Patron of Race Equality Charter
Kevin Hylton, Professor of Equality and Diversity in Sport, Leisure and Education in the Carnegie Faculty at Leeds Beckett, has been announced as one of five patrons of the Equality Challenge Unit’s (ECU) Race Equality Charter.
Drawn from across the higher education sector, the patrons will bring their academic expertise and backgrounds in race equality to support and champion the Race Equality Charter principles.
The patrons will help ECU to make sure race equality remains on the higher education agenda, to inspire and encourage institutions to commit to improving the representation, progression and success of minority ethnic staff and students within higher education.
Speaking about the announcement, Professor Hylton said: “It was a real honour to be asked to be a patron of the Race Equality Charter and reflects the work we have done in the Carnegie Faculty around diversity, equality and inclusion, and in particular the work around race and anti-racism in sport, leisure and education.
“Going forwards my role will be to support the ECU and higher education institutions in developing and implementing their race equality charters.”
By becoming a member of the Race Equality Charter, higher education institutions are committing to following a set of guiding principles acknowledging that racial inequalities are a significant issue within higher education, racial inequalities are not necessarily overt, isolated incidents, racism is an everyday facet of UK society and racial inequalities manifest themselves in everyday situations, processes and behaviours.
The Charter also outlines that UK higher education cannot reach its full potential unless it can benefit from the talents of the whole population and until individuals from all ethnic backgrounds can benefit equally from the opportunities it affords. It states that in developing solutions to racial inequalities, it is important that they are aimed at achieving long-term institutional culture change, avoiding a deficit model where solutions are aimed at changing the individual.
The charter goes on to outline that Black and minority ethnic staff and students are not a homogenous group, people from different ethnic backgrounds have different experiences and outcomes of higher education, and that complexity needs to be considered in analysing data and considering actions.
Professor Hylton is a world leader in the area of sport and ‘race’, and his work on diversity, equity and inclusion has been extended into research and professional support for sports councils, equality bodies and local government.
Later this month, Professor Hylton will deliver a public lecture on understanding racism in sport at Victoria University, Australia. At the event, which will take place on Friday 29 January, Professor Hylton will discuss the topics of race, racism and whiteness in sporting organisations. He will examine the ways in which racism in sport often continues unrecognised, even within the university and sport science.