THE OXFORD poet Tom Paulin is to be called as a key witness against his own university when a student brings a claim of institutional racism in a court case likely to attract keen interest in the world of academia.
The world-renowned Irish poet will be giving evidence to support Nadeem Ahmed, a student to whom he is a personal or "moral" tutor at Oxford. Mr Ahmed alleges he was unfairly asked to leave Oxford University's Oriental Institute after being made to sit "flawed" exams.
Mr Ahmed's lawyers will allege in Oxford County Court next year that he was asked to sit a series of "unofficial" exams that racially discriminated against him. They will also present what they say is evidence of institutional racism at the institute.
Mr Paulin said the case would test Oxford's commitment to an anti-racism document signed this year by the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford and heads of other major institutions in Oxfordshire. The statement was agreed in resporise to the Macpherson report into the death of Stephen Lawrence.
Mr Paulin said that in the past few months he had had the opportunity to get to know Mr Ahmed well. "He is an excellent student with an unerring eye and I support him and admire him in everything that he has done."
Mr Ahmed joined Hertford College, Oxford, to take a MPhil course in medieval Arabic in October 1998 after graduating with a 2:1 in religious studies and Urdu from the School of Oriental and African Studies at London University
But in June 1999 he was asked to take informal tests in Arabic, which Mr Ahmed said he was told would have no impact on his academic career. Of the three students asked to sit these exams, a white student passed and Mr Ahmed and another Asian student both failed. Later the Asian student was told he had been "deemed" to have passed. But Mr Ahmed was told he must sit another test, which the University said he had again failed.
Mr Ahmed went to Mr Paulin for help to have the test results discounted. But all Mr Paulin's attempts to seek redress for his student ended in failure, leaving Mr Ahmed feeling he had no option but to take legal action. Yet in a letter written to the Oriental Institute shortly after the tests, the Dean of Hertford College, Roy Stuart, said he considered the exam flawed and that it was "odd" a copy was not kept by the institute.
This month, Mr Ahmed lost the first part of his legal battle when the High Court ruled against his claim to have the results of the exam set aside. While the court was not asked to rule on his allegation of race discrimination, it did describe the tests as "unfortunate".
A spokesman for Oxford University refused to comment on the case, since "matters are still before the courts".