York University Northerners Revive Northern Society to Fight Accent Stereotypes
Lucy Morville, a student from Burnley, experienced culture shock during her first year at York University, where her accommodation housed 16 students but only one northerner. To combat feelings of isolation and to celebrate northern identity, Morville and her friends revived York's Northern Society. The group organized a northern-themed fancy-dress pub crawl featuring characters like Wallace and Gromit and the Gallagher brothers, with Morville dressing as a Pendle witch. Looking ahead, the Northern Society plans to hold a Yorkshire Olympics in the spring with events such as black pudding throwing.
The society aims to help northern students connect and to challenge stereotypes based on their accents, which are often a source of mockery. This sentiment is supported by a Sutton Trust survey that found more than half of northern students at UK universities have been mocked, criticised, or singled out socially because of their accents. One Newcastle student shared experiences of London interviewers questioning if they could understand their accent, and others being asked if their parents worked in coal mines.
Cambridge University also has a northern society that runs punting events sponsored by an international law firm, aiming to demystify the application process for northern students. However, York-born novelist Adelle Stripe noted that the north is diverse and not a homogeneous entity. While she acknowledges that northern societies can provide support for isolated northerners, she suggests that such societies are not strictly necessary.
