Patronising working class students won’t make universities more inclusive

From Educating Rita and The Young Ones to the more recent Fresh Meat, social class differences among university students provide perennial dramatic inspiration. Working class students – what with their funny accents, strange diet and odd clothes – are simply a great source of comic relief. Now there’s a new stereotype for scriptwriters to get their teeth into: chicken. Fried chicken to be precise. Apparently the working class just can’t get enough of it. And luckily the working class students at Goldsmiths, University of London, have defenders on hand to ensure this cultural trait is neither mocked nor appropriated by their more middle class peers. Working class students: you can relax. Your fried chicken-habit is safely yours, and yours alone.

In their naivety, student union officials at Goldsmiths organised a ‘Chicken Run’ social event designed to introduce new students to local delicacies. Think of it as a kind of non-alcoholic pub crawl only involving fried chicken rather than beer.