Oxford students were subjected to homophobic abuse as they made their way home from a night out last week, with evidence linking the attack to members of Lincoln College.
The four students were walking along Turl Street at around 2am Wednesday morning, when a group of five or six began shouting at them, asking where they had been for their evening. When they replied that they had been at Baby Love, the group referred to the bar as “Gay love”, with one shouting that the group were “faggots” to the amusement of his friends.
Two of the students on the receiving end of the abuse lodged complaints with the JCR at Lincoln the next day, with suspicions that the attack had come from members of the College.
Matthew Isard, a third year psychologist at Somerville and one of the victims of the abuse, explained why he chose to take this action. He said, “As I turned round after the comment, they were going into accommodation that was close to the Mitre. I’ve heard that those rooms are for Lincoln students.”
He added, “None of them were wearing college hoodies or anything, but the college officials seemed to accept the evidence we reported.” A Lincoln student later confirmed that the door off Turl Street leads to accommodation for second year students.
In response to the complaint, the Senior Dean of Lincoln emailed the JCR to inform them that such incidents would not be tolerated. He wrote, “It has been brought to my attention that earlier this week, Lincoln College students directed homophobic abuse towards a student from another college. This is an issue that the College takes very seriously and this type of behaviour is totally unacceptable.”
Lincoln College later issued a statement saying that they treated such allegations of harassment seriously and respectfully, emphasising that they would respond to any formal complaint made “to ensure that it remains a safe, comfortable and happy environment for all staff, students and visitors.”
There is, however, no evidence that the college has identified the culprits. Isard commented, “Sadly I can’t give a description as it was dark and they were too far away from us.”
Other students at Lincoln have reacted with sympathy but have been unable to help with this process. Fresher Anna Leszkiewicz expressed her confusion, saying, “I was completely unaware anything had happened until I got the email from the Dean, there weren’t any rumours flying around. It just doesn’t fit in with the nature of our college. Obviously it’s really disconcerting and disappointing.”
The Lincoln community has expressed its shock at the incident. LGBTQ representative for Lincoln, Lewis Wingfield, told Cherwell that “Lincoln is a tight-knit, supportive community”, adding that he had never encountered anything similar to the events last week.
Wingfield went on to defend the college’s LGBTQ record, saying “Just because some abusive comments were made by a few drunk students this does not by any stretch of the imagination indicate that Lincoln does not protect its LGBTQ community. Further, I fail to see how College could control drunken comments made by its members.”
Patrick Reid, a Lincoln second year qualified Wingfield’s statement, saying, “Being drunk does not make it acceptable to verbally assault other students.” Leszkiewicz added, “In whatever light you look at it, abuse is abuse and it’s unacceptable.”
Isard spoke of his disappointment not just with the one particularly vocal individual but with the whole group, commenting, “There was only one guy who was an issue, but the others laughed and didn’t seem appalled so they are not much better.”
Katie Colliver, the current LGBTQ Officer for OUSU, added, “Homophobic or transphobic abuse is not acceptable in any circumstance,” continuing, “Unfortunately, abusive language is often excused as ‘banter’. It is important that the perpetrators recognise not only that their behaviour isn’t funny, but that it could be reported to the police.”
Homophobic abuse is frequently not reported, so Colliver could not give accurate figures for such abuse cases in Oxford. However Thames Valley Police’s Homophobia Awareness Liaison Team received 15 reports of such abuse in the first half of this year, showing that last week’s incident was not unique. Isard commented, “I have had abuse in Oxford, more than I’ve ever got in London, but it has always (previously) been from people in the town, never students.”
