The trustees, staff, and students of St Augustine’s have adopted a ‘statement of commitment’ in response to the Church of England’s recent From Lament to Action. The college’s UKME group took the initiative of urging and proposing this statement, arguing very persuasively that we needed to make clear not only our attitude toward racism but also our intention to live as a Christian community of learning in ways that both actively oppose racial discrimination and also foster an ethnically diverse college in which that diversity is grasped as God’s gift and so always formative in our learning.
The trustees, our Board of Studies, not to mention everybody who has access to Moodle, have reviewed and commented on the statement, so what you read now represents the counsel of many. Above all, though, our gratitude and appreciation go to our UKME, formerly known as BAME, group, who recognised the importance of this initiative and had the energy and patience to pursue to it to publication.