My own assumptions about the centrality of white men were blown apart when an academic in one of the Blessed Disciplines confessed that he'd always felt marginalised because of his class roots. Another admitted similar feelings based on his discipline - given the neoliberal deification of Science, Engineering and Technology that had sprung up within the University, he felt his field tainted him as "dead wood" despite his active research profile and empassioned teaching. And, of late, the policy thrust which has embraced the discourse of equity and redress has seen many white men feeling threatened, superfluous, endangered.
The black staff who are the intended beneficiaries of many of these policies feel no more affirmed or empowered - many question the commitment of the institution to enacting these policies as they continue to see around them the appointment, promotion and affirmation of those traditionally affirmed. Skepticism at best; outright suspicion and hostility at worst.
Neither women as a group, nor people with disabilities, see their identity reflected back at them when viewing the institution. They still feel the need to adapt, compromise, suppress, mask - which has, some claim, gotten worse in recent times rather than better, with the heightened focus on performativity which makes unreasonable demands of the kind best borne by those who have wives, servants, Others to pick up in the domestic sphere when their attention needs to be focused increasingly above and beyond working hours on putting in extra just to stay afloat.
So... if we all feel Other, who feels affirmed and reflected back in this institution? Are we all completely alienated, or is there - lurking somewhere in the bowels of Bremner perhaps - someone who truly feels this place is their own?