Celebrating Diversity Dinner

Written by Mufaro Mutsatsa, JCR Faith & Ethnic Minorities Rep

The annual BAME Dinner is an opportunity for current New College students to meet with and speak to BAME Old Members. The simple purpose of the event is to celebrate cultural and ethnic diversity at New College. This year's event was an amazing experience for me, and I have been told by many other attendees that they felt the same way. From the student perspective, it was especially important to be able to speak to Old Members about their experience at New College in a different time, because it provided us with a new perspective about diversity at our College and how it has changed over time. 

I am especially thankful for our guest speaker. It was truly a pleasure to hear Roopa Farooki speak for us and read from her book. She was able to make us all laugh, but she also managed to shed light on issues and experiences that we all relate to. I personally enjoyed listening to her stories about her time at New College, how things have changed, and how they have stayed the same. So thank you again, Roopa, for being our guest speaker for the night. 

Old Member Julia Stephenson attended the dinner and posted the following on instagram (@thefancybaker). She has kindly agreed to let us share her post (below). The picture shows Roopa (left) and Julia (right) in the Founder's Library.  

30 years of friendship and this girl never fails to amaze me! Was honoured to accompany @roopafarooki alongside my godson, her second born Zaki, to the @ncdiversityjcr BAME dinner where she was the guest speaker. Junior doctor in the NHS, published author and Oxford professor of creative writing, mother of four incredibly bright kids, I often ask myself if there is nothing this woman cannot do. Was an absolute pleasure to be back at our old college @newcollegeoxford where we met back in December 1991, a black girl and a brown girl who gravitated towards each other like magnets. It was incredible to see the sea of diversity sitting around the table, which gives me hope that @oxford_uni is working to increase their pool of talented students to more reflect the world we live in. Roopa you smashed it. But then, you always do.