Subtle racism is alive in the academy’s corridors

I am a Southern European and I did my post-graduate studies in the UK. After I arrived in the UK, the accommodation company working for the university gave me a room in a shared flat. Some of my flatmates were British students, one of which was black (I will call him X here). There was also a girl. X bullied me, another flatmate and the girl. It was my first time living in the UK and this took a heavy toll on me. I went to the office of the RE company inside the property and asked to be given a room in a different flat, describing the difficult situation to a member of the staff. I never asked them to take action against X, but simply to be allowed to move to another flat in that very large property. The head of the office, a black woman, came out from her office and spoke in private with the staff I just spoke with. I pleaded with her to let me move. She attacked me shouting at me through the office, saying that maybe I was the problem and that I was not going to move from my room. (Please note that I had paid 1 year of rent in advance). So I kept living in the flat. X kept bullying us, teasing me and eating my food (even in front of other flatmates to tease me). Once he started a conversation when we were alone, and I was answering by saying just yes and no, because I didn't want to talk with him. He said, Maybe you don't want to talk with me because people from your country are racist, isn't it? I said nothing. The situation continued until one day he came back drunk and started a fight with the other student he was bullying. They smashed stuff and the accommodation office of the university intervened. The accommodation company sent a guy to apologise to me and give me a voucher of 20 pounds in exchange for the promise not to complain again with the university. I kept living in the same flat until the end of the contract. Now I work in a university in a different country. What did I learn? Sometimes we just have to listen to people who have a complaint and try to honestly assess where it comes from. Racism is rife everywhere, including academia. Sexism and homophobia are too. So we have to listen without prejudice and help people, not condemn them before we have really understood what is actually going on.

*I must specify that I spoke with the accommodation office of the university only after the fight between X and the other flatmate occurred. This happened because the flatmate involved in the fight told the university that I was bullied too. So the university officer asked to speak with me. Then the company sent the guy to apologise.