When Yuko Kikuchi stepped down as head of academic programmes at the Victoria and Albert Museum at the end of January 2026, few outside the institution took much notice. That changed in July. Her letter to director Tristram Hunt and the trustees of the museum's research committee surfaced, alleging racist and culturally insensitive behaviour by staff towards her and students on the joint V&A and Royal College of Art MA History of Design programme.
Kikuchi, who is Japanese and has lived in Britain since 1989, described feeling unwelcome from her first day. She spoke of microaggressions, exclusion from meetings, resistance to her proposals, and often being the only non-white person present. After she raised concerns an HR investigation followed that left her feeling sanctioned. The letter framed itself as whistleblowing, arguing student worries would otherwise go unaddressed.
Supported by 12 academics, including Sonia Boyce, chair in Black art and design at the University of the Arts London, and Sarah Teasley, formerly head of programme at the Royal College of Art, the document included anonymous student testimonials. These spoke of racism, cultural insensitivity by teaching staff, a lack of diversity among faculty and an unsafe learning environment. One flashpoint involved pushback against a proposed decolonial course titled Postcolonial Identity, Museum Collections and Transnationalism, with a suggestion it be moved to the second term. A senior colleague reportedly advised avoiding the terms decolonial and post-colonial. Students claimed offensive refusals of decoloniality affected their essay choices and left them feeling unsafe. A meeting in November 2025 aired these grievances.
The V&A's own annual report records that 65.8 percent of staff disclosed their ethnicity as white. That figure alone invites scrutiny. Is it evidence of systemic racism, or simply the predictable outcome in an institution built on centuries of British collecting, scholarship and curatorial tradition? The letter insisted the alleged behaviours pointed to a deeper culture that needed addressing. Yet concrete, verifiable incidents beyond subjective feelings of exclusion remain thin on the ground.
The institutions hit back with a joint statement. They declared themselves committed to celebrating diversity, eliminating discrimination and promoting equality of opportunity. They stand firmly against unlawful discrimination in all its forms, they said, and take any incidents or reports of unsafe learning environments extremely seriously. The MA programme, they noted, already engages critically with questions of social justice, decolonisation and global histories. Regular opportunities for student feedback on equity, diversity and inclusion are built in, alongside meetings and follow-up discussions. Actions have since been taken to strengthen teaching, pastoral support and staff development.
According to reporting by The Art Newspaper, Tristram Hunt replied in February 2026. Human resources had apologised for aspects of the internal process that were not carried out as hoped, he wrote, and the matter prompted a review of procedures. Points raised by students would be examined with the Royal College of Art to deliver concrete actions. The V&A was reviewing aspects of the programme and its practices. Staff were already engaged in examining the colonial histories and legacies of the museum's collections and addressing historic biases. Hunt acknowledged this remained work in progress and that more needed to be done to develop staff understanding across the organisation.