Universities must tackle racism and not wait until incidents blow up on social media to act, according to student union officers and lecturers who say that a recent spate in racist incidents reported online is just the tip of the iceberg.

Student representatives from leading Russell Group universities have told the Guardian that racism is being brushed under the carpet by most institutions. At one university a student support group said it had received 31 complaints since November.

It comes as the Guardian heard from three students at Exeter University, who are calling on chancellors to make urgent changes after a spate of racist incidents, which they say are happening on campus and within student societies.

Chris Omanyondo, Arsalan Motavali and Roman Ibra, all 21, told the Guardian about incidents of racism, including one in which they allege Ibra was called a “nigger” by a group of fellow students.

In a separate incident, five students were suspended from the university after complaints that derogatory messages, including “if you ain’t English, go home”, were posted on a student WhatsApp group.

Q&A What are your experiences of racism at university? Show We want to hear from students about how widespread an issue this is. Have you experience racism in a society or group? Have you reported it and felt like you weren’t listened to? Share your experiences with us in this form.

Last month two 18-year-olds were arrested after Nottingham student Rufaro Chisango posted a video in which a group of men are alleged to be chanting “we hate the blacks” and “sign the Brexit papers”. Nottingham Trent University said: “Those suspected perpetrators have been suspended immediately pending a full investigation. We have contacted the student who made the complaint and are providing support to her and others affected. And we are liaising with the police about this incident.

The National Union of Students (NUS) black students officer, Ilyas Nagdee, said that the cases were just “the tip of the iceberg”.



Nagdee said: “Racism is embedded in every fibre of our institutions. Whether it’s the culture on campus or the content of the curriculum, the experiences of students of colour on campus point to them being treated as secondary recipients to the education system on campus.”

His words were echoed by Ayo Olatunji, black and minority ethnic Students’ officer for UCL, who said : “We would hear about a case a day in the media if everything that happened went online,” he said.

“Universities are not excluded from society, and society is rife with racism,” said Paul Miller, professor of educational leadership and management at the University of Huddersfield.



Exeter university seems to have a particularly bad record, according to Annabel Murphy, the Tab’s assistant editor, who oversees news stories for 12 universities including Exeter. “The kind of people that go there are often very privileged,” she said. “They’ve had a lack of exposure to other races and have grown up surrounded by vaguely racist jokes that have been seen as just ‘banter’”.

A University of Exeter spokesman said the university had an “unwavering commitment to tolerance, respect and inclusivity”. They added that in each of the last five academic years, the number of student reports of racism had been fewer than five.

Even as the problem has become more visible, there are concerns that university authorities have failed to respond. Zamzam Ibrahim, the president of the University of Salford student union, said racism was a huge problem in all institutions but universities tended to shy away from it. “It’s unfortunate that it’s only when things go viral on social media and affect the image of the university that it’s taken seriously,” she added.

One student who approached the Guardian, but asked to remain anonymous, said that he was on a leave of absence from Loughborough university after dealing with racism at university that damaged his mental health and self-confidence.

“I’ve read messages in hall group chats where the words ‘coon’ ‘black’ and ‘ape’ were thrown around as insults. I’ve also heard stories about hall rugby team boys making ape noises in reference to an opposing black player ‘trying to communicate’,” he said.

Loughborough University’s vice-chancellor, Prof Robert Allison, said that since being made aware of this incident the university had spoken to the student and were working with him to take appropriate action.

Ryan Perinchief, president of the Durham People of Colour Association (DPOCA), created last year in response to racial incidents, said he had received 31 reports since November. “These are complaints of overt racism occurring, which would otherwise be ignored at Durham as it is such an elite institution.”

Perinchief shared some of the complaints he had received, including one that read: “A bunch of white teenagers shouted ‘ni hao’ and ‘konichiwa’ at me. Would not stop. I was standing at the bus stop, and no one intervened.”



Another one read: “You’re pretty for a black girl. I would get with you if you were white.”

Durham University’s deputy vice chancellor and provost, Prof Antony Long, said that the university did not accept prejudice or discrimination and condemned racism.

Concern has also been raised that students do not feel that they can go to their universities with a complaint. The Guardian sent a freedom of information request to universities about formal and informal complaints of racism over the last four years, but most responded to report just one, two or a handful of cases a year.



The University of Birmingham said it had received five or fewer informal complaints, and five or fewer formal complaints, of racism a year since 2013-14.



But Nagdee said that he had spoken to at least five students already this year about incidents at Birmingham. “Universities need to hold themselves to account as to why students may not want to report these incidents,” he said.

A spokesperson for the University of Birmingham said it took a zero-tolerance approach to any examples of discrimination and incidents of reported racism on campus had been low for some time. “Universities are a place for open and constructive debate, the pursuit of knowledge and challenging established thinking in a civil way. Discrimination has no place here,” they said.