STUDENTS have expressed anger after a Scottish university news outlet made a series of “ignorant” remarks appearing to discriminate against Scottish students.
The Edinburgh Tab – a student-led tabloid at Edinburgh University – has faced backlash after it doubled down on jokes made towards Scottish students.
When one user commented that their videos did not feature any Scottish students, the Edinburgh Tab responded that it was “as god intended”.
Without addressing the criticism, the account then posted another video making fun of the angered Scottish students which said: “me after enraging the 4 scottish people that actually go to edinburgh uni”.
One commenter said: “It’s not that funny when you’re Scottish and went to a state school and you have English people making fun of your accent and calling you poor.”
The Edinburgh Tab simply responded: “i am and i did”.
Another video showed a person walking away from a student after learning they were Scottish.
The National understands that the outlet has not yet apologised for angering Scottish students, instead disabling comments and temporarily turning the account private.
The majority of the posts concerned now appear to be deleted – but were shared by Stirling University’s Brig Newspaper.
There are more Scottish students at Edinburgh than any other UK demographic
According to the latest admission statistics, there are more Scottish students at Edinburgh University than any other UK demographic combined.
Scots made up 26% of the most recent intake of students, compared to 24% of students from the rest of the UK.
Despite this, Scottish students have reported feeling “isolated” and “hurt” as a result of experiencing anti-Scottish discrimination.
The University of Edinburgh Scottish Social Mobility Society – a newly established group at the university which aims to create an inclusive environment for Scots – said the comments highlighted “deep-rooted classism and the exclusion faced by Scottish students”.
“By treating the issue as a joke, they reveal an unwillingness to acknowledge the alienation Scottish students – especially those from working-class backgrounds – experience,” the group said in a post on social media.
Shanley Breese, a fourth year law student from Dumfries and a founding member of the group, told The National: “It’s more than just being annoyed and being hurt by a joke – we feel so isolated from our own campus.
“A lot of Scottish people feel disregarded. If we were to go speak to someone about it who wasn’t Scottish, they just wouldn’t get the severity of it.”
Meanwhile, James Leitch – a third year economics and politics student from Kilmarnock – said he saw the posts were getting “meaner”, but that “when someone said it wasn’t funny they commented ‘bore off’”.
“Fair enough it could have been funny, but so many people had seen it and weren’t agreeing with them – and they just kept doubling down,” he told The National.
“They know that nothing’s going to happen to them for posting it, there’s no real consequences.”
Leitch pointed out that anti-Scottish sentiment has been prevalent at Edinburgh University for many years, but that not many Scottish people had spoken out about it.
Breese and Leitch hope to bring these issues to the forefront of university discourse by creating a pressure group.
The society was created just six days ago, after learning that – unlike the majority of other Scottish universities – there was no society for Scottish students at Edinburgh.
They told The National more than 200 students had gotten in touch with them to thank them for creating the society, sharing their own experiences at the university.
“It’s also to find more friends and to actually embrace Scottish culture,” Breese said, adding that the group hopes to run events around St Andrew’s Day and Burns Night.
'We’re meant to be the generation that knows better’
The “ignorance” around the experience of Scottish students feeds into a wider conversation on classism at the university.
Because of the limited number of spaces available for Scottish students compared to fee-paying nations, the majority tend to come from working-class backgrounds – who are prioritised in the admissions process.
The National also spoke to the 93% Club, a society aimed at highlighting the discrimination experienced by state-educated students at Edinburgh.
The group previously led a State School Proud campaign which was specifically aimed at highlighting the experiences of Scottish students at Edinburgh.
Whilst around 7% of university students in the UK are believed to be privately educated, the society says this figure is significantly higher at Edinburgh University.
Lilian Mooney, a first year law student and the society’s social media officer, said she “wasn’t surprised” to see the posts from the Edinburgh Tab, but that she felt excluded from the university as a result.
“I’m a Scottish person attending a Scottish university. I’m being made to feel like the minority at my university, even though it’s in my home country.
“If it had been making fun of disabled students, female students, students of colour – it would have been unfathomable. Instead it’s acceptable.”
The society’s president, Grace Clarke – a fourth year philosophy and politics student – said it was important to call out student groups for making “ignorant” comments.
“We’re meant to be the generation that knows better,” she told The National.
“Every time a Scottish student sees something like [the Edinburgh Tab videos] - and by proxy, any working-class student – that imposter syndrome just ingrains itself a little bit further.”
The society called for class to be recognised as a protected characteristic in the Student Code of Conduct, alongside other characteristics such as race, gender and disability.
Clarke said: “Obviously having race and gender as protected characteristics hasn’t ended racism and sexism – but at least it’s made people aware of them, and it makes it more taboo.”
The Edinburgh Tab is part of the Tab group, which has 29 outlets in different university cities across the UK.
The Edinburgh Tab did not respond when it was contacted for comment.
