Aisha Ali Khan says she was told to “go home” by an Oxford University worker during a conversation on politics.
According to Khan, Dr Peet Morris, a researcher and lecturer at the University of Oxford, told her to “go home” if she wanted to keep hold of “barbaric practices that subjugated women”. She said he also “demanded a ban on the Burka.”
The alleged incident took place at a dinner in Yorkshire where Khan was sat on a table with people from the higher education sector.
Khan further said that Dr Morris’s wife, Dr Harriet Dunbar-Morris, attempted to calm her husband down, a claim that has been disputed.
Dr Harriet Dunbar-Morris said the allegations by Khan were “very upsetting” and do not reflect her “recollection of the private event.”
Khan wrote on Twitter that she could not understand how Dr DunbarMorris could “deny the racist abuse her husband directed at [her] when there were many witnesses present at the dinner who are happy to come forward.”
A History and English teacher, she said: “As a woman of colour, I felt singled out and victimised. The more I and other guests on the table pushed back against his racist tropes, the angrier and louder he became.”
Although she does not wear a hijab or burka, Khan feels it was the right of a woman to wear what she wished. Khan wrote on Twitter that she was “deeply disappointed” with the response by both University of Oxford and Portsmouth University.
A spokesperson for the University of Oxford said: “We have been made aware of allegations on social media, which we understand relate to a conversation at a private event unconnected to the University.
“Peet Morris is not an Oxford University or college academic.
“He holds a casual contract for services, delivering computer programming training with the IT Services department on an ad hoc basis, normally two to three days in each term.
“Under our equality policy, the University of Oxford is committed to fostering an inclusive culture which promotes equality, values diversity and maintains an environment in which the rights and dignity of all are respected.
“The University embraces diversity amongst its members and constantly seeks to promote awareness of equality and foster good practice. All members of the University community are expected to act in accordance with this policy and its values.”
This news comes in a year when Oxford came joint second highest amongst British universities for recorded instances of racism.
