MUST we have room for everybody?
The University of Southern Denmark (SDU) has come forward as a Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) university, where the goals 5 and 10 should lead the university to pursue a more inclusive policy and create a more positive learning environment for minorities, but we have still not seen any concrete changes or initiatives.
I am a student at SDU, and I am so tired of the attitude that we must have room for everybody. It should have a consequence to behave against SDU’s SDG policy, so why are derogatory behaviour and disparaging remarks still accepted?
I have a really hard time when I hear one of my fellow students say “you f…… faggot”. It might have been said “for fun” to the person next to him/her but in my opinion that kind of disparaging and outdated language should have been expelled from the university a long time ago. SDU is a place for education and research and to some extent a place with an opportunity to mould future researchers and manpower. If one of the objectives of a university education is to prepare us for business and research, the university should take responsibility for creation of a modern and inclusive environment that we can take with us after the graduation.
Writer
Iris Maritta Nehring Madsen studies Product Development and Innovation and is the founder of FEM - Female Engineers Movement at SDU
”Where can I order a study period without unconscious bias and everyday sexism?
”If there must be room for everybody there will be someone we do not have room for
I have not kept count of the number of times I have said “please stop saying that” but I am actually tired of the students having to take on this responsibility and I am tired of its strong presence at my study. Where can I order a study period without unconscious bias and everyday sexism?
I will and must not set myself up as a judge of the way to deal with homophobia, sexism, racism etc. at the universities, but as one of the students who is affected by it and as a chairwoman for the students’ union FEM, I strongly urge SDU to live up to its promise of being a SDG university and thus work for gender equality and less inequality.
Creation of an inclusive learning environment may imply, that unconscious bias will result in conversations with your director of education and training and sexual harassment in more than a rap over the knuckles. This means that if there must be room for everybody (SDG 5 and 10), there will be someone we do not have room for. It is up to SDU what this showdown is going to look like, but I hope that the university will make the decision in cooperation with the students and the student unions, as a showdown is likely to imply both positive and negative consequences.
The question is whether SDU’s declaration of itself as a SDG university is only symbolic, or if it originates in a sincere wish to live up to this tag.