‘Oh my gosh, they’re all from London and Cambridge’: York University’s northerners fight back | Higher education

L.Like many students from the north, Lucy Morville says she experienced “culture shock” when she arrived at university because she was surrounded by southerners. But he said the shock was even greater because it wasn’t what he expected when he enrolled at York University.

“I hadn’t been down south much before university and I was like, ‘Oh my God, they’re all from London and Cambridge.’ I said. “It was a huge shock for me,” he said.

“I’m from Burnley in east Lancashire and I’m surprised there are so many people in York who aren’t from the north, because I thought more people would do the same thing as me and stay local.”

In his first year, Morville found himself living with 16 other students, but only one was from the north. He and his friends set to work on revival. York’s Northern CommunityOffering events such as a northern-themed fancy-dress pub crawl featuring northern icons Wallace, Gromit and the Gallagher brothers, with Morville dressed as a Pendle witch.

In the spring the community holds a “Yorkshire Olympics” of events including black pudding throwing. He said the community also meant students from different parts of the north could learn more about each other’s regions.

York-born novelist and journalist Adelle Stripe said the existence of northern societies recognized that the north contained many different identities “under one rainy umbrella” rather than a single experience.

“The North is not homogeneous. It has many shades, politically and culturally. It’s not just a patchwork of hollow villages, back-to-backs and post-industrial wastelands. It’s also a place full of wealth, lush landscapes and architectural beauty. The language, history and economy vary greatly from the North to even South Yorkshire,” Stripe said.

“You may feel underrepresented at an elite university, so if this encourages a sense of community for students experiencing isolation, then it should be encouraged. I don’t think Northerners need a society to do that, but we are quite capable of finding each other without such formality.”

Many northern societies in the south seem keen to share their love of Greggs’ sausage rolls and the logo of the London School of Economics northern society. is a yorkshire puddingThe Cambridge University branch has a more serious side.

In addition to a program of events, including betting, sponsored by an international law firm, Cambridge’s northern community “We know applying to Cambridge can feel scary – especially if you haven’t met anyone who has done it before. Our aim is to change that.”

a survey Commissioned by Sutton TrustMore than half of northern students at universities in England say they have been “ridiculed, criticized or ostracized socially” because of their accent, a charity which aims to increase social mobility through education has found.

A student from Newcastle said: “During the interviews, I remember a boy from London asking a large group of people if they ‘really understood’. [my] “His accent was pretty terrible and it wasn’t a pleasant first impression of the university.” Others said they were asked by other students if their parents worked in coal mines.

For Morville, York’s northern community is a way of turning the tables.

“I feel like we went to college and had fun with our accents, so it’s time to challenge it. [Southerners] They always ask if they can come to the community and I say, ‘Actually no, because that’s not the point, that’s not the area we want it to be if there are people from the south there.’”

But that doesn’t stop southerners from trying to sneak in: “There was a girl, I think she came with her friends, and she was talking in a fake swearing accent all night long. People from the area were there and one of them was following this. The girl was identified and revealed that she was wearing this.”