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Results of my enquiries. I have also spoken to the CRE, who would welcome information on what is being done in any educational institution. Email to [log in to unmask] The Legal Dept. there is currently working out how to respond to the Act... It will also be talking with Inspectors who will have to inspect for fulfillment of the Act; the training of these Inspectors is also being thought about. Marika ----- Original Message ----- From: Laura Turney To: Marika Sherwood Sent: Tuesday, July 30, 2002 1:30 PM Subject: Re: Race Relations Amendment Act Dear Marika Many thanks for your message. Mannie Kusemamuriwo at the equality challenge unit (www.ecu.ac.uk) would be interested to hear your concerns about the Uni of London. I've pasted the relevant section on the act from our toolkit below. But my own perception of the legislation & institutional responsibilities is as follows in caps : 1.Do universities have obligations under the new Act or the Eu. directive? YES THEY DO (The Univ. of London, according to the ICS director & personnel officer, has not discussed this at all.) If universities do have such obligations, do these extend to a) all levels of staff YES b) students YES c) course content NO 2. Do policies have to contain rules/time lines re a) implementation b) monitoring c) action on basis of monitoring INSTITUTIONS ARE REQUIRED TO HAVE A RACE EQUALITY POLICY IN PLACE (DEADLINE WAS MAY 31). RESULTS OF POLICY MUST BE MONITORED & RESULTS OF MONITORING MUST BE PUBLISHED. 3. To whom can 'interested people' complain if a) their institutin has no policy b) policy is not put into practice c) there is no monitoring and follow-up action BASICALLY, YOU CAN CONTACT THE ECU & THE CRE. THE CRE CAN TAKE LEGAL ACTION IF INSTITUTIONS ARE SEEN TO BE FAILING TO MEET THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE LEGISLATION. I hope this helps answers your questions. This is my understanding of the legislation based on the literature, conferences & several discussions with Mannie from the ECU. Relevant section from toolkit below (http://www.leeds.ac.uk/cers/toolkit/toolkit.htm). The Race Relations Act 1976, as amended by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, makes it unlawful to discriminate against anyone on grounds of race, colour, nationality (including citizenship), or ethnic or national origin. The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 places a positive General Duty on all HEIs to promote race equality. This means that HEIs, in all their identified relevant functions, have due regard to the need to: a.. eliminate unlawful racial discrimination; b.. promote equality of opportunity; c.. promote good race relations between people of different racial groups. This responsibility and all the other relative Specific Duties arising from the legislation, lie with individual HEIs as autonomous institutions. As such, individual HEIs are legally answerable (through their governing bodies) for their fulfilment of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 requirements, both in relation to the General and Specific Duties. It applies to: a.. jobs b.. training c.. housing d.. education e.. the provision of goods, facilities and services Briefly, HEIs should have addressed the following: a.. Implementing the race equality policy through the General Duty; b.. Specific Duty 3 (1) Race equality policy; c.. Specific Duty 4 (a) Assessing the impact of all institutional policies; d.. Specific Duty 4 (b) Monitoring admission, recruitment and progress; e.. Specific Duty 4 (c) Publishing arrangements; f.. Specific Duty 5 Publishing arrangements. In order to comply with the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, Higher and Further Education institutions must: a.. Prepare a policy (the deadline for England and Wales was May 31st, 2002 - it is November 30th, 2002 for Scotland); b.. Assess how all their policies affect minority ethnic students and staff; c.. Monitor student admission and progress, and staff recruitment and career progress by racial group; d.. Arrange to annually publish their policy and the results of assessment and monitoring. The equal opportunities administrators in your institution, should have already drafted and put the race equality policy into place. Although we are able to provide a summary of some of the main provisions of the amended Act we are not able to provide a definitive guide to the law. For further information on this and related matters, please see: a.. Commission for Racial Equality (http://www.cre.gov.uk) b.. Equality Challenge Unit (http://www.ecu.ac.uk) c.. HMSO (http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/20000034.htm) An institution should be aware that racist incidents ranging from harassment and abuse to physical violence are offences under criminal law. The incitement of racial hatred and the publication and dissemination of materials such as leaflets and newspapers that are likely to incite racial hatred are also criminal offences. If anyone in a HEI has a complaint with respect to any of these criminal matters they should be reported to the police. Material in the media that is deemed to be racially offensive contravenes media codes of practice, complaints about material of this nature can be made to the Press Complaints Commission or the Broadcasting Standards Commission. Complaints about racially offensive advertisements should be made to the Advertising Standards Authority. a.. Press Complaints Commission (http://www.pcc.org.uk/) b.. Broadcasting Standards Commission (http://www.bsc.org.uk/) c.. Advertising Standards Authority (http://www.asa.org.uk/)