The opening up of higher education in Britain to groups previously excluded means that there is currently an opportunity for new voices to be heard in academia. However, the process whereby dominant academic linguistic conventions and practices mediate such voices is highly problematic, tending to constrain rather than open up the possibilities for meaning making. This paper examines specific instances in the struggle to make meaning in academic writing of a group of black bilingual women. Using case study material I focus firstly on the process whereby practices surrounding dominant conventions exclude them from participating in the liberal-conservative education project of higher education as currently organised in Britain. Secondly, I explore how such conventions constrain what they can say in their academic writing and thus how their voices are regulated. This involves examining how conventions regulate what they can say, how they can say it and who they can be. I conclude that there is a need to listen carefully to what student writers are saying in order to open up the framework for making meaning in higher education if our aim is to develop an inclusive education where new voices can be heard.