Former St Andrews student's account of classism sparks wider debate about elite university culture

A former St Andrews University student's account of classism on campus has sparked broader discussion about class tensions at the elite Scottish university, according to The Guardian.

Sophie Rose Jenkins, a former comparative literature and classical studies student, announced she would not return to St Andrews this academic year, citing her experiences of classism on campus. She published her account in a lengthy LinkedIn post that has resonated with hundreds of others in the two weeks since, The Guardian reported.

“Working-class students have been made to feel ashamed of their home life at university,” Jenkins wrote, according to the newspaper. She added: “Arriving at a university ranked first in the UK at the time from a background like mine, I thought I was doing everything right.”

The Guardian's report describes online comments reflecting class tensions between students from lower-income families and wealthier American undergraduates at the university, though the full scope of the responses and any statement from St Andrews University were not included in the available excerpt.