Students are opening a new frontier in the culture wars, as they appoint a wave of “working class officers” to stop poor people from feeling oppressed at university.
Students in Manchester, London and Oxford in the UK are pumping out a new breed of bureaucrat to address supposed social problems at institutions.
Manchester – one of Europe’s top institutions – advertised for two officers, both of whom must consider themselves working class, and one of whom must be a “self-identifying woman”.
A specification for the position has been posted online here.
Their job will be to “facilitate dialogue” between their poor fellows and middle-class students, which presumably did not occur before. They will also organize events and campaigns, according to the Manchester Tab.
Proponents of the scheme suggested that it was necessary because some elite institutions have large proportions of privately-educated students – though Government data shows that fewer fewer 20% of Manchester students fit that category.
In November, Heat Street reported that a similar position had been created at one of the colleges of Oxford University.
They also exist at SOAS in London – where students recently claimed black students can’t learn from white teachers, and suggested stripping white philosophers from the curriculum.
The trend is developing as social class opens up as a new frontier in student identity politics. Three months ago Heat Street reported that the cheerleading society at the University of Bristol came under fire for hosting a social event some thought was “appropriating working class culture”.