"Our city is open, tolerant and welcoming"

Published on 8, August, 2024

University of Sunderland Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive, Sir David Bell, reflects on the recent disturbances in the city and how Sunderland remains a great place to live, work and study.

It is hard to find the words to describe the shock and horror I have felt since disturbances broke out last week across the UK, including here in Sunderland.

Our city, like the country as a whole, is normally open, tolerant, and welcoming. So, it was deeply worrying to see many people – albeit a small minority of the population as a whole –behaving so badly and expressing such hatred.

But as we said in our message on Saturday morning, the scenes we saw the night before did not represent our city.

As the Lord Lieutenant of Tyne and Wear, Lucy Winskell, put it:

The true spirit of Sunderland people was on show following the disorder, when many turned out to help with the clean-up which had been started by City Council employees during the night. Whilst the media coverage concentrated on the ongoing violence, in the background we saw the cranes which are working on the many regeneration projects which are making a real difference…

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The past few days have been fast-moving but, throughout, our top priority has been the safety, security and wellbeing of our students and staff. I am enormously grateful therefore to colleagues who have, as always, risen to the demands of the moment.

The same is true of Northumbria Police as none of us, I am sure, envy its officers who are on the front-line when it comes to managing trouble and dealing with criminal behaviour. So, I wrote the following to Chief Superintendent Mark Hall, Area Commander for Sunderland:

I know that this has been a very stressful time for you and your officers since disturbances broke out in Sunderland on Friday night. However, I wanted to express my warmest thanks and deepest appreciation to you and your team for the great work that you/they have done – and are doing – to keep residents and property safe and secure. That, of course, includes our students and staff, as well as the buildings and facilities here at the University. We owe our brave police officers an enormous debt of gratitude.

I was also very pleased to see the robust way that you are dealing with alleged perpetrators. Those who carry out acts of violence and vandalism must know that there will be consequences for their actions and that they will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

The days ahead are uncertain but our strong sense of community and purpose that has seen us through previous difficult times will, I know, prevail again.