Coventry University withdraw young Black students offer after mental health struggles.

19 year old Chukwu Ibekwe, from Peckham, like many young people across the country, has spent the beginning of September ready to start their next chapter of life at university. He was due to start a Professional Accounting course next week at Coventry University, however on September 9th, he received a letter telling him his place had been withdrawn. He would no longer be a student at their university. 

The letter alleges that an “incident in student accommodation Godiva Place that required the presence of Protection Services and West Midlands Police” is the reason his place has been withdrawn. The wording indicates that the incident put people at risk, that Chukwu was dangerous, and that enforcement agencies were required to end the incident. Chukwu says that this was not the case, and shared his story first on his TikTok account. 

He says that an alleged witness claimed to see him with weapons after a conversation in halls got heated. He had spent the week getting to know his flatmates, telling them about his upbringing, life in Peckham, and that University was supposed to be a fresh start for him. He says he thought they were being friendly with him, so it was a surprise to him when after this argument, he came out of his room to hear the girls crying. He said “it was like they’d never seen someone get angry before.” He had gone into the kitchen and they thought he had taken something from the cupboard, and it was at this point it was alleged he had weapons. They also claimed he had more weapons in his room, including knives and guns. They also allege he took a knife from the kitchen, and took it from the flat into a separate block. 

Chukwu does admit he had taken a kitchen knife into his room. But he had not taken it with the intention to harm anyone, except for himself. He told me he hadn’t wanted to share this on TikTok as he hadn’t wanted to be seen as vulnerable, but he has a history of mental health struggles, including suicidal thoughts and ideation. This is something he shared with his flatmates. He also believed his 6th form were sending information about it to the University so they too would be aware. 

Chukwu is the only Black person in his flat, and he says that it’s made things uncomfortable for him. When he played music, people would complain, when he cooked, people would complain. He says that he thinks being a Black man is why he has been treated first as a threat, and second as a criminal, even when they knew his struggles.

“Maybe I am guilty, because they caught me smoking weed, and on both occasions they took my grinders. But everyone smokes weed. I’ve seen white people smoking weed when security walked past and they didn’t do anything. But I got in trouble.” he said when I spoke to him. 

He continued,  “I haven’t actually done anything. I’m not going to say I’ve been a saint all my life, I did use to do bad stuff. But Coventry is my fresh start, I struggled to get these 3 A-Levels to go University, and now look at it.” 

Over the past 3 days, Chukwu’s room has been meticulously searched. He says they’ve been in there at least 7 times, with no warrant or warning. Nothing has been found. 

Of course this uncertainty around a person’s future would be difficult for anyone, however it’s certainly made worse by mental health struggles, something for which it seems he is being punished for having. As a result of this, Chukwu shared with me a letter he wrote before he tried taking his own life, seeing no future for himself without this place, and now struggling financially after paying out for university supplies. 

Despite no evidence to substantiate the claims, he is not even allowed the opportunity to appeal the decision. 

Coventry University have been contacted for comment.