RUSSELL PROFITT – Reflections on my years as a Goldsmiths’ student – 1966 – 1971
Getting there
I had little idea about what to expect from a university education. This was because, in the early sixties, no one else from my immediate family, as far as I knew, had ever got that far up the education ladder, or had even tried! Therefore, as someone whose head was still resonating with lingering thoughts of my previous times as a child growing up in the Caribbean, I was quite anxious about what to expect, or how the shape of my life would unfold in a place like Goldsmiths’. A few of my friends and acquaintances, mainly from the world of left politics, warned me about the dangers of getting too involved with those from other social classes and races, but none of that was off-putting.
I knew that I was about to have a life changing experience but whether this would be for good or ill, I had no idea, although I do remember feeling apprehensive, optimistic and excited at the time. So, having achieved the rare feat for many from the school I attended, of achieving the necessary qualifications and being selected for a place at Goldsmiths’, on the appointed day I set off from Islington, North London, my home at the time, heading for New Cross, South London to take up my place at college.
I travelled alone – my Mum never ever had a job where she could take time off to attend such events – and in due course found myself heading up that hill from New Cross Station towards the college, relevant documents in hand and determined not to feel like a fish out of water. I made my way to the entrance, which was then on the left of the imposing main building, and got some directions to help me find the new students’ registration desks. There, to my relief, my personal details were found and some documents with my name on them were handed to me. This was heartening confirmation that, not only was I in the right place, but also that I was indeed a student at the great Goldsmiths’ College, and I had a grant cheque from the Inner London Education Authority and a timetable to prove it! Thus the great adventure of my time at college began.
Being a ‘fresher’
Joining in with and adjusting to the complexities and patterns of student life during the early months of my first year, or the ‘freshers’ year as it was called, was for me quite challenging – to put it mildly. I found the first few days at college, the Freshers Week as it was called, exciting and bizarre as I edged my way into student life. The week of activities was a revelation and suggested some great times ahead of fun and frivolity – not at all what I thought students would be like! The week began with the new clubs and societies recruitment fair – held in the Great Hall and along the college corridors, featuring the chaotic barking of louder and louder appeals or musical performances from older students, who were dressed in many cases in a variety of costumes and disguises, aiming to shock or attract the attention from us college newcomers.
I felt like a child in the most attractive and amazing sweet shop ever and walked about wide-eyed and stunned at the range of what was on offer. People in brightly coloured and fashionable clothes, or so it seemed to them, sporting unusual hairstyles, paraded about. Tables or stalls were set out street-market fashion and covered with posters, flyers and other materials designed to attract us newcomers to join up to become members of the various clubs and societies on show, for which a small fee would be charged and quite possibly never to be seen again. Interestingly, the Drama Soc I seem to recall had possibly the largest stall and without doubt made the loudest noise, whilst others, possibly the Chess Soc, were noticeably quiet. I recall taking up the offer to join the Debating Soc, Socialist Soc and a few others which, over the weeks, I found difficult to keep up with as the more serious business of college life rumbled on.
College life during the first year meant dealing with the tricky question of charting a way through the mix of termly study themes, reading lists and lectures’ timetable, whilst living in ‘digs’ as a lodger in a shared room – the innocence of it all – in a terraced house in Brockley. It also meant coping with the rather traumatic transition from living at home and having a provided pathway – as in the final year of Secondary School – to having to find my way forward as a student, within the much larger institution as Goldsmiths’ was. This proved to be very daunting – especially as it appeared to me that several of my fellow students, never attended lectures or read the books or articles as recommended, but were always to be found in the refectory or the Students’ Union Bar – or so it seemed! However, like a lucky fish, I remembered to bob my head below the water line from time to time and managed to survive!
Learning about college life
Academic Learning – which after all was the main reason why, as students, we were there, as the College Warden Ross Chesterman, reminded us in his welcome lecture in the college Great Hall – was to be gained from a variety of opportunities provided. First, through reading and studying the articles and books recommended on the provided lists (Sociology, my subject of study together with Education, seemed to have much longer book lists than any other subjects – or so it seemed at the time!). Also, through attending the seminar groups and lectures delivered in various Lecture Halls or rooms dotted across the college and through participation in the planned (or on occasions unplanned) meetings with lecturers or tutors, to discuss, or deliver the expected – or more likely ‘promised’ – handwritten essay or study. This was of course long before the arrival of Apple or Microsoft gizmos and iPad or computers, and emails, texting or smart phones did not exist, and no Wikipedia!! Everything done had to be handwritten or typed for those with that skill – not me – and be based on writing pads or pieces of paper as legibly as possible.
Additionally, there was the Social side of college life, meaning the evening and night-time life, to get into and enjoy – which The Warden also advised, and the many colourful posters and notices plastered on the walls and corridors around college screaming out to you, demanded – or else you were missing out!
Joining in with the student social life had its obvious appeal, and if everything went well proved to be very enjoyable, to say the least! It involved getting into and choosing from the incredible variety of opportunities then available at college and its surroundings. For some this meant joining in with Student Hall of Residence life, to be found in the many Halls the college then managed or, for those of us not staying in a Hall but living in “Digs’, enjoying the dubious joys of taking in an evening meal in the college refectory, a drink in the Students’ Bar then in the mixed common room, followed by possibly the enticing pleasures of whatever was happening in the Small Hall. This could mean attending a Folk Club night or Debate or other Societies’ evening meeting plus, of course, the Friday night ‘Disco’, or Union organised Dances – often advertised through banging of tray in the refectory at lunch times to grab attention followed by an announcement in a loud and gravely Welsh burr by one of its organisers – Sandy Evans, or the more relaxed Real Neil!! The weekends meant going home for visits or attending demonstrations – of which there were many – or more than likely attending a musical event organised by the Students’ union, or those of other colleges across London, such as Woolwich Polytechnic.
In due course, in between visits to the bookshops, the refectory for meals – and for ‘social teas’- drinks with friends in the Union Bar or The Rosemary Branch or New Cross House (but never the New Cross Inn for some reason I have yet to appreciate) – and discovering the location of “the Library”, I managed to find some kind of balance between the delights and challenges along the way, which helped to see me through college life with as few mishaps as possible.
Personally, college life did lead to a loss of traction with some family members and many of my North London friends and their ways, but on reflection I am clear that many of the people such as my mother, and many of those early experiences of life, did play a hugely significant role in helping me to remain grounded through my college life – and beyond – in several ways I will never forget.
Becoming involved
In due course, I began to feel more able and equal amongst others of my age group than ever before. There at college, increasingly driven by feelings of confidence that I was in a place and space where I felt I belonged, and amongst a group of challenging but supportive peers all of whom, as children of post war Britain living during the tumultuous Sixties, seemed to want social, political and other change, I began to feel that if I pushed myself forwards I, too, could make a difference. I rarely felt my social origin or race to be a barrier to making progress in my life at that time.
Finding a voice at college, however, was not easy as everyone seemed to not only have something to say, but seemed so at ease and confident to do so – or so I felt. College, though located in a disadvantaged urban neighbourhood, was isolated from the realities outside. Inside the bubble student life was a rich and heady mix of endless possibilities, experimentations and challenges, the taking of which seemed to pose no problem whatsoever, provided the bank manager was happy, and, of course, as long as academic expectations were met!
Many of the students I met, in the variety of settings available in and outside college, appeared to fall between being the products of the Grammar or Public Schools – usually brimming with self-importance and certainty – or those nurturing tales of the pitfalls of country kids coming to live in the big city who needed, therefore, to be very careful. Being from a humble Secondary Mod from North London and before that the Caribbean, I was neither of those two extremes, and so tried my best to craftily plot a workable way through this pot-pourri of emotions and sensibilities to try to maintain for myself some grounded sense of reality.
Mostly however, I think we felt that we were at college to have the best times of our young lives, as some of the leading politicians of the time used to say. We were the post war ‘baby boomers’ who were growing up during the swinging sixties and so, as the culture and music of the times suggested, were free and able to experiment and experience as many of the joys and delights of life as possible – academic and social. Plus, some of us were ‘granted’ a bit of ‘free money’ at the start of every term – by the government – for which we remain eternally grateful!
We were, however, living through some tumultuous times which – even as students in our own bubble – we were unable to ignore or avoid.
We were living at a time when Dylan and Baez were singing about the changing times and the Beatles and the Stones seemed to be experiencing the changes before our very eyes. Though the rebellions occurred in several places around the world, as students based in London we made various efforts to play our parts – as the broader-minded Internationalists we felt ourselves to be – to try to make the world a better place for all of those whom we saw on TV and in the written media as disadvantaged, downtrodden or missing out in some unfair way on the best their lives could be. We tracked the American civil rights sit-ins, marches and demonstrations, led by Martin Luther King in the early to mid-sixties and later Stokely Carmichael, Miriam Makeba and others and joined in to support these however we could. We also became enraged by the ‘Six Day War’ in 1967 involving Israel and the Arab world, which briefly paralysed life around college, and joined several banner-waving demonstrations to try to end the war the US was waging in Viet Nam, including the hugely significant one in Grosvenor Square in early 1968.
‘We shall overcome’ became embedded in our hearts as the anthem for our lives and times, which for a number of us to this day still remains to be the case.
The student leader
As time passed, I found myself more and more involved with friends with opinions about issues of the day, and became involved in helping produce the Student Union weekly newspaper/satirical review of college life called Smith News. This meant that I was inevitably drawn into the run of lively debates about student and college life – and eventually, thanks to the push and pull of a network of others – stood for and became elected President of the Students’ Union – its first black President, but thankfully not its last. Later on I subsequently became a member of the Executive of the National Union of Students, around the time Jack Straw was elected President. Domestic student issues such as the debate about how student loans could be introduced, which the union opposed, featured prominently in debates, as also did international issues such as calling for Nelson Mandela to be freed and apartheid in South Africa to be ended. Boycotts, ‘sit ins’, and demos by students featured prominently in the media and in other political forums of the times. I certainly felt that in the context of the raging battle for racial equality, which led to city riots especially in the US, but also everywhere across the world – including here in the UK, working in a non-violent way, based on a multiracial platform through working with others of a similar disposition, real and lasting differences could be made, and which set my mind to the task of trying to make this happen.
Being President of Goldsmiths’ Students’ Union meant much to me as it offered me a great opportunity to speak out on all matters of the day, and to enjoy a sabbatical year – a paid year off from college work – to be able to do so. The role was also fraught with unpredictable potential for pitfalls!
Amongst other things, it meant assuming major responsibility for working with: the Union’s Executive body to manage Union finances; its staff – the brilliant, efficient and sage Mrs Fowley and her charming and equally efficient assistant Mrs Collyer; the Students’ Union bar (which for some strange reason seemed always to be on the brink of bankruptcy); the Unions’ Social Committee – brilliantly run by Social Secretaries with great musical tastes and contacts but equally likely to bankrupt the union (if allowed to do so); as well as responsibility for running various student rights’ campaigns, organising various protests and marches, and as ‘active’ students, and urging others from those we would term “the great apathetic mass”, to join us in our efforts to make a difference.
At the national level as a member of the Executive of the NUS I attended its various events and meetings in central London and conferences elsewhere to comment on, organise or support more and more students’ protests, to agitate for more grants and better housing for students, and for peace and love throughout the world.
One other most essential part of the life of Students’ Union President involved attending the numerous social events which were organised across college by the Halls, or College Societies, as well as other Students’ Unions elsewhere. Thankfully as President, I was able to claim a dress allowance for this, plus of course the chance to enjoy some excellent hospitality provided – for most of the time!
In fact, this part of the job was like participating in a student politicians ‘grand tour’ of the Colleges across London and elsewhere and their styles of hospitality! Participation in these events was a reciprocal activity. Attendance to an event meant inviting the event’s President and partner to the one you were then duty bound to hold in return. So it was in fact a yearlong nonstop merry go round for all Presidents and partners attending Students’ Unions Socials, All-night Winter or Summer Balls and Festivals, which involved eating a life’s worth of prawn cocktails, chicken – cooked (usually) in various guises – drinking a variety of good to indifferent wines and beers, and seeing quite a lot of ‘The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band’ , The ‘Melody Makers Steel Band’ or ‘The Simon Dupree Big Band’!
Significantly, it was also a time when, as student leaders, we found ourselves campaigning to be able to take part in discussions on more and more aspects of our pastoral live, but also in the quality and the delivery of academic matters we were being offered as students. It was the earliest stages of the debates which eventually led to students becoming more involved in college life through gaining places on college academic boards and committees which, in turn, gave us a great opportunity and the right to challenge the status quo!
Some personal reflections
Looking back, academic qualifications apart, I feel that the experience provided me with a great chance to grow mentally, and to develop personal skills, self-belief and confidence which, I believe, has stood me in good stead throughout life. Additionally, I gained an appreciation of the key importance of ideas, and the importance of gaining a ‘political nose’ when trying to advance a cause.
More significantly I gained a partner for life, was able to achieve my Teaching Certificate, and one of the first BEd degrees to be awarded by the University of London. I was also able to make contacts with and meet a vast variety of inspiring, funny and amazing people, many of whom remain friends – and possibly a few enemies – to this day.
Russell Profitt MBE – President of Students’ Union 1968/1969