#WeAreAllSue - Support a Disabled Migrant PhD Student at NU

#WeAreAllSue needs your urgent support

Sue is a Black, disabled migrant PhD student at Newcastle University in a complaint against her abusive supervisor. Now, the university is reporting her to the Home Office in retaliation, with full knowledge that she is suffering from terminal Stage 5 kidney disease and in a life and death situation.

Sue’s Story

False promises and academic sabotage: In 2022, Sue was promised financial support for her tuition fees and enrolled into a PhD programme at Newcastle University Business School with this understanding. But when she arrived in the UK in 2023, she learned that all of the promised support was a lie.

Sue sought scholarships and part-time work to support herself and her family. However, her supervisor not only prevented her from applying to scholarships and paid opportunities, but further controlled her research and day-to-day quality of life, with a high-level of surveillance, inappropriate supervisory practices, and escalating harassment of both her and her family.

An environment of terror and retaliation: This environment of surveillance, harassment, and terror has grossly impacted the health of Sue and her family. In particular, her kidney condition escalated to Stage 5 kidney disease, a severely disabling terminal illness, during this ordeal.

Sue raised these issues as informal complaints, receiving insufficient support while her health issues were treated with little urgency. Then, in Autumn 2023, Sue’s supervisor accused her of plagiarising his work, in what Sue sees as a malicious act of retaliation and victimisation over her informal complaint. As a result, Sue filed a formal complaint against her supervisor in February 2024.

Newcastle University is closing ranks

The university responded to Sue’s complaint on 5 March 2024, egregiously painting this vulnerable, disabled African student as a malicious liar. Now, the university has stated that it will report her to the Home Office, despite a written promise in January that her status would be unaffected due to her ongoing complaint.

Newcastle is utilising obvious misogynoirist tropes to close ranks around Sue, weaponising her precarious migrant and disability, contending with kidney failure and living on borrowed time, against her as she attempts to seek justice. It is a stark illustration of the pernicious institutional racism that a disabled Black migrant woman with caring responsibilities has been treated this way by both her supervisor and institution.

Newcastle University is relying on Sue having no solidarity behind her. But Sue’s case reflects all of the institutional ableism, xeno-racism, misogyny, and misogynoir at universities that so many of us are familiar with and that especially impact migrant students. We can show Newcastle that #WeAreAllSue and she has a community of supporters who will defend and her support for justice.

HOW TO HELP

Please donate to this fundraiser for Sue. Every little bit you donate to her fundraiser will help her with the following:

1. Finding a kidney donor - £3,104.28 will be used to locate a kidney donor among relatives in Nigeria, transportation and visa costs to come to the UK so that Sue can have urgent surgery to live.

2. Applying for Leave to Remain under Medical Grounds - £4,817 will go to filing a leave to remain application under medical grounds for Sue and her dependents. (£1,033 x 3 + International Health Surcharge fees (£624 x 2, £470 x 1).

3. Solicitor fees - we estimate these fees to be around £5,500. The breakdown:

Immigration solicitor fee: £4,000

Public Access barrister fee, £1,500

Through our Grassroots Movement Fund, URBC has put in £1,500 for barrister fees. Legal costs may increase given the joint nature (immigration + public law) of this case.

4. Miscellaneous - £578.72