University victory in race case
It was ruled on Monday at Reading Crown Court that Oxford University was not guilty of racial discrimination against an Asian former student.
Nadeem Ahmed claimed that he was victimised by tutors at the Oriental Institute after he failed "flawed" exams. Judge Jonathan Playford QC rejected the case on the grounds of insufficient evidence and told Mr Ahmed that he had been "hypersensitive". He did, however, reprimand the University for faults and inconsistencies in the examination procedures of the medieval Arabic philosophy Masters course.
Mr Ahmed sued the university after he was told to drop out of his Masters degree when he failed informal Arabic tests in 1999. Three students were asked to take the assessment, which a white student passed while Mr Ahmed and another Asian student failed. The second Asian student was later told that he was "deemed" to have passed, but Ahmed was informed that he would have to re-sit the test. When he failed again he raised concerns about the lack of supervision and appropriate marking procedures at the Oriental Institute. He also accused his academic tutor, Dr Friedrich Zimmermann, of favouring a white student and exhibiting "coarse and outrageous racism" towards Mr Ahmed.
The controversial poet and English Fellow, Tom Paulin, was Ahmed's personal tutor at Hertford college and supported him as a witness at the trial. He expressed disappointment at the Oriental Institute for failing to deal with the issue internally and in March told the court "I have lost faith in the Institute to conduct a fair test".
On Monday, Judge Playford said that Mr Paulin was not a credible witness and suggested that he and Mr Ahmed had been "mischievous" in their claims of racism. He also accused Mr Paulin of leaving threatening messages with his college and of failing to contact Dr Zimmermann about Mr Ahmed's complaints, claiming that it would be "counter-productive".Judge Playford also said that Mr Paulin had been "excitable, and may have had his own axe to grind regarding Dr Zimmermann".
The University welcomed the judgement on Monday. Procedural flaws in the conduct of this particular examination were recognised by the University but it said, "steps have been put in place to ensure that this exam is now treated formally, in line with University regulations".
The University expressed relief that the slur on its reputation as a diverse institution has been removed, commenting, "we pride ourselves on welcoming students from all backgrounds, cultures and faiths, and from over 130 countries". The judgement also confirms Oxford's commitment to an anti-racism document signed last year by the Vice-Chancellor and the heads of other Oxfordshire institutions. The statement was signed as a response to the Macpherson report into the death of Stephen Lawrence; Mr Paulin had questioned the University's enthusiasm for this document during the case.
Although shocked at losing the case, Mr Ahmed said that it was still a constructive process in many ways. A statement from Mr Ahmed commented, "this case has revealed at the very minimum that the University of Oxford does not have in place an equal opportunities policy for its ethnic minority members".
Mr Ahmed is considering launching an appeal.
2nd May 2002