Within my short time as Welfare and Equity Representative, and throughout my studies in general, there is one topic that has come up consistently: students who identify as being in one or more equity groups often feel “othered”. This can come from not feeling included in conversations around campus, facing microaggressions, or even outright name-calling. This is something that I, and many other students, have experienced. It is not just a personal issue, nor just a campus one. It’s a nationwide struggle.
The feeling of being isolated, alone, and “othered” is something a significant amount of students encounter, especially during their first years at university and entering a completely new environment. At seventeen or eighteen, you move away from everything familiar and step into a place where you may know no one. You come into class expecting a sense of unity, but instead feel disconnected. Everyone seems similar, yet different from you. That feeling can grow into a pressure to change yourself just to “fit in”.
First-year students are more likely to feel this pressure to assimilate – shaping themselves into versions that may no longer feel authentic, just to match a mould that should not exist. These feelings do not come from nowhere. They reflect fears that marginalised communities often carry long before arriving on campus. And at university, away from home and the community that grew and grounded you, these experiences can be intensified.
Students face verbal attacks, whether through whispers, small remarks, or direct discriminatory comments. These moments stick and stack, and that pressure on your identity mounts. You start to question yourself – am I overthinking? Is it really a big deal? Do I change? And too often, nothing is done to address it. You get very offended the first time, but as more years of your studies pass, it becomes something you laugh at. But the pressure and hurt that comes with the “othering” of your identity isn’t funny.
The culture on campus is something that needs to change. You might not see it, you might not hear it, and it might not affect you – but that does not mean it is not happening.
Students should come to University to grow their knowledge, both academically and personally. It should be a place to learn who you are, not a place where you feel forced to change who you are.
The path forward is to put aside the “othering”. Be welcoming to new faces. Be willing to learn about things that are unfamiliar to you. Be open to having uncomfortable conversations. Allow yourself to understand that there is so much you may not know about people who are different from you.
I will leave you with this. If everyone in your friend group looks the same, talks the same, and comes from the same socio-economic background as you, then that is something worth reflecting on. Be better, and help create a campus culture that does not “other”.
