The Black Equity Organisation is a Black civil rights charity that exists to dismantle systemic racism and make the UK a better, fairer country for Black people. Two of the key areas of our work are justice and education, which is why we’re bringing a judicial review against the University of Chichester. 

We are challenging University of Chichester's decision to suspend their groundbreaking MRes History of Africa and African Diaspora course. Those who value Black history have been failed by the University’s decision to close the course. 

What are we fighting for? 

The University of Chichester decided to suspend its pioneering online MRes History of Africa and African Diaspora course. It is the only history course in a UK University that combines the study of the history of Africa and of the history of Black people in the UK and the Commonwealth. 

Without any proper notice the university decided to suspend new students' entry onto the course for October 2023 and January 2024. What’s more, in October 2023 they decided without any consultation to extend the suspension for the 24/25 academic year. We are challenging this decision.  

Why is this important? 

With so few courses dedicated to our history and so few Black students studying the subject, we believe that the decision to suspend the course, and effectively withdraw it, will have a discriminatory impact that will reach far beyond the University of Chichester and the current cohort of students.  

With the drive to decolonise and diversify the curriculum in schools, courses such as the one at the University of Chichester will play a vital role in providing learning and teaching on subjects such as the impact of the Atlantic slave trade on institutions, reparations and restitution and the positive contributions made by peoples from the African continent through migration to the UK. 

The course was introduced because it recognised the lack of opportunity to study the history of Africa and history of the African diaspora. Few Black students study history beyond GCSE, because it doesn’t reflect our true history.  The course at Chichester gave an opportunity to those previously denied it to study history that was relevant to their own histories and ancestry. 

In 2023 the course had a total of 17 postgraduate students either studying on the MRes or PhD. This was the biggest cohort of Black postgraduate history students in any university in the United Kingdom. 

What are we doing? 

We have issued a judicial review claim challenging the University’s decision to suspend the course as they did not carry out any consultation or an equality impact assessment of their decision. As a public body the University has a duty to eliminate discrimination and advance equality of opportunity. By suspending the course, the way that they did shows that they were not willing to follow through on their public sector equality duties. 

Our campaign aims to get the University to reinstate this valuable course, and we need your help to do so. 

Why we need your help 

The University of Chichester’s MRes History of Africa and African Diaspora course is vital in protecting our history and ensuring it is being taught for generations to come. We need your help to meet the legal costs of the judicial review, and ensure we can continue to fight for this course to be reinstated.

Black history is being lost.