»Woke is dead! Long live common sense and merit,« Donald Trump Jr. wrote on X, after his father won the US presidential election in November 2024. Since then, pundits across the globe have readily agreed, declaring the ‘death of woke’ as a dominant societal trend.

Back home in Copenhagen, Lea Korsgaard, editor-in-chief of news outlet Zetland, rejoiced in February that she no longer had to look at »the pregnant man emoji« or »the hysterical shaming of J.K. Rowling«, and media outlets followed suit with mock funeral ceremonies and obituaries for woke as a political idea.

The death has also been tangible in government. Danish Minister for Health Sophie Løhde announced in January that a new abortion law will no longer say »people with a uterus« but »women«, and Minister of Defence Troels Lund Poulsen shut down several of the army’s diversity initiatives in April.

As early as last summer, the former Minister for Equality Marie Bjerre had »needed a break« from the diversity festival Copenhagen Pride. A genuine first mover, you could say.

It has run out of steam, according to this story. People no longer list their pronouns on LinkedIn — and isn’t there also a growing sense that it might be acceptable to flirt just a bit with the intern again? That was at least the recent suggestion in a podcast by Danish newspaper Weekendavisen journalist Christian Bennike.

This, then, is the state of play out in society — at least according to many of those who perhaps never got to be properly woke in the first place.

But what about here at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH)?

Over the years, the university has been an easy target for the critics of woke, and they have regularly been able to find fresh examples in the pages of the University Post. Think of the banned Mexican sombrero, the rumour that there were no longer two sexes in the Department of Biology, and the ongoing debate on academic freedom, in which both camps accuse the other of wanting to curtail it.

On the other hand, the rector’s chains and bronze statues are, here in the 150th anniversary year of women at the university, still mainly reserved for men. One third of all female PhD students have experienced sexism, and you still can’t get around all campuses in a wheelchair.

So is woke also dead at the university? And what does the word even mean in a UCPH context? The University Post set out to find out.

READ ALSO: Art experts puzzled as departing rector insists on outdoor bronze bust

Woke is something the others are

In a Danish-language context, woke was added to its dictionary in 2017 with the meaning »[a person] who has become aware of, and concerned about, social injustice, racism, lack of equality, or similar issues.«

But after just five years, a new alternative meaning had to be added to the entry. The wording is the same, but now followed by the addition »to a degree perceived as excessive, demonstrative, and confrontational.«

And it is precisely this excessiveness that Associate Professor of Rhetoric Kristine Marie Berg highlights when we call her to bring in the expertise:

»Strictly speaking, woke just means that you are aware of some people’s privileges and others’ oppression. But in recent years it has taken on the tone of being aware in a way that is too much,« she says.

At UCPH, for example, guidelines on harassment were introduced in 2018 which were based on ‘perceived’ harassment. This struck many as problematic because, according to critics, too much weight was placed on the experience of one party.

Already the following year, the guidelines were amended so that it was no longer enough to feel harassed to be recognised as such. Was woke already in retreat at UCPH in 2019?

When something is ‘too much’ is, after all, a matter of judgement, says Kristine Marie Berg — and it is rarely something you would say about yourself:

»Woke is something the others are.«

In this way, the word also works as a straw man argument, she says. If you manage to label your opponents as woke, you have simultaneously branded them as ‘too much’, making it easier to dismiss their points — without actually having to engage with the substance of their arguments.

This may also have been the case for some of the most high-profile debates on the subject that have taken place around UCPH in recent years.

In 2018, the former associate dean at the Faculty of Law Stine Jørgensen tried to avoid a shitstorm over harassment and stereotypes during the intro week, but ended up as a target for the opposite camp, which accused her (and by extension the university) of being far too woke.

Shortly before intro week, she had been made aware that some new students perceived the costumes they had been asked to prepare at home as exclusionary. She made a prompt decision and sent an email to the tutors urging them to »as soon as possible [take] another look at the costume categories to ensure that the themes [were] in line with the faculty’s values on diversity and non-discrimination.«

»And then it exploded,« she recalls when we ask her to revisit the events.

The associate dean experienced how journalists on one side accused her of disregarding the student environment, while the other side polemically asked, »what the hell is going on at Law — now you can’t even wear a Mexican hat,« as she puts it.

»Suddenly all the media wrote that you were no longer allowed to dress up for the Law faculty’s start of studies. They didn’t even attempt to understand the actual issue we were trying to address,« she says.

»There was a collective bloodlust in the media. It was completely impossible for me to bring nuance to the story or get the facts on the table.«

Stine Jørgensen does not like the accusations of her being woke. She dislikes the term, which she finds both polemical and undefined — a long way from her world of law.

Still, she can see that the wokeness accusations could have a point. Perhaps the efforts to be considerate had been taken too far — that it had been ‘too much’, as Associate Professor of Rhetoric Kristine Marie Berg would put it.

»I’m not sure I found the right balance 100 percent. I probably didn’t,« says Stine Jørgensen.

Was the caution too excessive?

Stine Jørgensen pauses for a long moment.

»Yes, in a way,« she says at last.

»People should, of course, be allowed to dress up. Absolutely. And I do regret that it will now forever stick to the University of Copenhagen that you can’t wear a Mexican sombrero.«

Fresh momentum in LGBTQIA

Despite the sticky sombrero affair, UCPH has not had a general problem with wokeness, according to Professor of the History of Ideas at Aalborg University, Frederik Stjernfelt.

»It seems that UCPH understood early on that it is not a good idea for a university to pursue its own political agenda. The institution should remain politically neutral, leaving it to students and professors to espouse opinions.«

Frederik Stjernfelt is not woke. He is sympathetic to the movement’s ideas, but says he dislikes the ideology’s totalitarian methods:

»The problem arises when, as we have seen in the US, you try to enforce this ideal through coercive measures. At American universities it has gone wild with dismissals, deplatforming (a form of boycott, ed.), and strict diversity requirements in recruitment.«

According to the professor, it is this going overboard that has paved the way for the anti-woke movement. The question, he says, is whether the movement will succeed in eradicating woke as a force — or whether it will instead end up strengthening it in small pockets of society: universities, for example.

»I honestly don’t know yet. It could go either way,« he says.

The fact that support for various inclusion initiatives at UCPH could go either way right now can be seen in the university’s LGBTQIA staff network.

It has existed since 2019, with members meeting in the Studenterhuset café »so long as there is the energy to organize these get-togethers,« according to its website.

But if you check out the network’s calendar on the UCPH intranet KUnet, there are no events coming up. The Facebook group appears inactive. At first glance, it looks like a dying diversity initiative.

And it was close to becoming just that, according to a board member of the network Tim Ammitzbøll Gudkov:

»Involvement has been on the decline over the past year, and not many people have been showing up to our events and meetings,« he says.

»We had actually been wondering whether there was still a need for an LGBTQIA network at UCPH.«

Then recently, it was as if there was a sudden renewed interest, according to Tim Ammitzbøll Gudkov.

»All of a sudden a lot started happening, both abroad and in Denmark, and that became our call to action. It was like a spark being rekindled«

The resurgence has been particularly driven by international staff, who — after Trump’s election — feel the global threat to LGBT+ rights more acutely than their Danish colleagues, says Tim Ammitzbøll Gudkov. And that makes you stop and think:

»We can’t just assume that everything will continue on an upward positive curve in terms of rights and acceptance in society. I think the recent political tensions have really highlighted this.«

»And perhaps that means there is more need for a network like ours. That is why the new board is now rethinking both the network’s purpose and its framework.«

That there is (again) a need for an LGBTQIA network at UCPH can be seen in the context of the counterreaction at universities that Professor Frederik Stjernfelt talks about. But it could also simply mean that the anti-woke movement just hasn’t reached UCPH yet. As Tim Ammitzbøll Gudkov says, the LGBTQIA network has a new board that is still finding its feet. So is the fluctuating activity really a reflection of broader political trends — or just a coincidence?

To answer that question, we return to woke in its original definition, namely as an awareness of social injustice, racism and inequality. We will now try to take stock of the rest of the inclusion initiatives at UCPH.

6,000 instructors, 45 on the course

The LGBTQIA network is just a small part of UCPH’s overall action plan for gender equality and diversity, the latest edition of which is from 2022. Progress on the plan’s various initiatives is set out in a so-called monitoring report, where 23 diversity measures are colour-coded according to whether they have been completed (green), partially completed (yellow) or are inactive (grey). In the latest status from 2024, 18 measures are green, one is yellow, and four are grey.

Recruitment efforts are lagging behind, with the goal of »strengthening equal opportunities in recruitment and promotion« marked as grey and »not implemented«. An initiative to »strengthen equal opportunities in the recruitment of managers« is yellow and »not implemented in full.«

The inactive measure may be a reflection of the gender distribution among university staff, where between 2022 and 2023 there was a slight drop in the proportion of women employed as associate professors, postdocs and PhDs. By contrast, there has been a slight increase over the same period at professor and assistant professor level. But as there are fewer staff in these positions, fewer hires are needed to shift the balance.

Another area that seems to be stalling is the many diversity courses recommended by various actors in recent years. A »generic course on gender equality, diversity and unconscious bias aimed at all employees« has, according to the report, not been developed — although a »series of webinars on topics within diversity, gender equality and inclusion, including parallel language use, sexism, and more, which partly fulfils this goal« has been held.

Another course for instructors »focusing on basic theories and concepts within gender equality and diversity« is marked green, but in two years has had about 45 participants (out of UCPH’s nearly 6,000 instructors) across three courses. The UCPH ‘TEACH’ unit, which runs the course, says that based on participant feedback, it has been shortened from two days to one.

Interest among UCPH instructors in learning about basic diversity theories appears to be limited, in other words.

Some of the other initiatives in the action plan are faring better. A considerable amount of data collection has been carried out — in fact, a third of all completed initiatives, six in total, concern »strengthening the knowledge base« in various areas. Five completed initiatives deal with addressing offensive behaviour, although here »continued ongoing effort is required« — because the work of preventing offensive behaviour »is not something you can ever be ‘finished’ with,« as UCPH Deputy Director of HR Thomas Molin writes in an email to the University Post.

A whistleblower scheme has also been set up, allowing for anonymous reporting of cases of sexual harassment.

There is therefore no doubt that, on paper, UCPH prioritises gender equality and diversity. For example, three new positions for diversity consultants have just been created in UCPH’s diversity team — doubling the number. But are these initiatives making enough of a difference in day-to-day life out in the departments?

The woke watchdog

The course for instructors, which so far has had 45 participants, was one of three proposals that the Student Council brought to the rector in the summer of 2023 when they presented their catalogue of ideas for »a university with space for everyone.«

Ira-Thomas Bro Pold, a member of the executive committee of the UCPH Student Council, is not impressed by the limited participation:

»We are disappointed that the course hasn’t been fully booked. We would like to encourage management to promote it more to all instructors,« they say (Ira-Thomas Bro Pold uses they/them pronouns, ed.).

Ira-Thomas Bro Pold is among the — now rather few — who are happy to call themselves woke. They use it somewhat self-ironically, they say. For example, they campaigned in the last university election under the slogan »weak-willed and woke«.

»It was a reference to Liberal Party politician Alex Vanopslagh, who at one point said this about a student association at the Political Science department,« they say.

»And then I thought: That’s me!«

On the whole, Ira-Thomas Bro Pold believes that UCPH management is attentive to inclusion and diversity, and that the Student Council and management have a good working relationship.

But the executive committee member does worry that inclusion at UCPH might slip back if the Student Council were not there »as an important watchdog« to keep management on its toes.

Even now, Ira-Thomas Bro Pold sees examples of UCPH not being quite as woke as it was a few years ago.

They point out that UCPH’s CO2 emissions have increased despite the university’s climate target of halving its emissions by 2030. Jacob Graff Nielsen, dean of UCPH’s Faculty of Law and responsible for the university’s climate strategy, said in April to the publication Akademikerbladet that UCPH would reconsider the target if next year’s accounts also point in the wrong direction.

And that was not a progressive statement, according to Ira-Thomas Bro Pold:

»We see it as an very unfortunate outcome: That if you don’t reach your targets, the solution is to make them less ambitious.«

The Student Council executive committee member also points to another area where diversity at UCPH has taken a step back: namely the debate about the university’s retreat rooms. In April this year, the rooms were cleared of all personal belongings — including prayer mats, headscarves and books. And now there is discussion about whether the rooms should be permanently closed down.

»Just imagine that this could even be up for discussion,« says Ira-Thomas Bro Pold.

»It will harm the inclusion of Muslim students and anyone else who may need a break during the day for various reasons.«

A final example of UCPH becoming less woke, according to Ira-Thomas Bro Pold, concerns the rectorate’s handling of the activists in Students Against the Occupation.

Former Rector Henrik C. Wegener told the University Post in November 2024 that patience with the group had run out, and that this was why the police were called during an otherwise peaceful action. This prompted UCPH legal philosopher Jakob v.H. Holtermann to warn that it is »very problematic« if UCPH discriminates against student activists.

»A deeply disappointing trend« says Ira-Thomas Bro Pold, »that the rector announced that he was tired of listening to the students and therefore called the police.«

Cleared retreat rooms, weakened climate targets, and discrimination against activists are, so it seems, all nails in the coffin for woke at UCPH. But Ira-Thomas Bro Pold also believes there are things keeping woke alive — especially things the Student Council itself has helped to get through.

»We have introduced free choice of pronouns on KUnet together with the Queer Union at UCPH,« they say, referring to the fact that students can now change their pronouns in UCPH’s systems to avoid being referred to incorrectly or deadnamed (called a name they no longer use, ed.).

»And we have introduced free menstrual products, which can also be said to be an inclusion initiative.«

Is the Student Council actually woke, the University Post asks. Ira-Thomas Bro Pold laughs.

»That’s a damn good question. I mean, anyone can come to our general assembly and influence the policy,« they say.

»But I suppose I have to admit that the people who actually show up are mostly the kind you could describe as woke.«

A symbolic victory

Whether the Student Council is woke — and here in the sense of being in favour of woke — is hardly a question that needs lengthy discussion in the opposition group Conservative Students. Here, chair Josefine Paaske believes that reports of the death of woke are exaggerated:

»Woke is not dead, woke has won,« she exclaims.

She points out that it has been a long time since there has been a ‘case’ at the university where someone, for example, has complained about the use of the N-word in a lecture or about costumes during the intro week.

»And the reason there hasn’t been a case is that the authorities we have at UCPH — both management and professors — have been so influenced by this movement that they are afraid to say anything that might push people’s boundaries.«

That is not a good thing, if you ask the Conservative Students chair.

»It has become normalised among students to say that there are simply some things we shouldn’t talk about. In that way, all debate is cancelled.«

She does not believe the rectorate has been tough on Students Against the Occupation — quite the opposite:

»They got a huge concession with the investments,« she says, referring to UCPH’s decision in May last year to withdraw its investments from occupied areas of the West Bank after pressure from Students Against the Occupation.

»I don’t think that would ever have happened five years ago. Management has become more woke too.«

Another example she mentions is the many intro programmes for new students that have been changed in recent years — for the worse, if you ask Conservative Students. At Josefine Paaske’s own programme, Political Science, tutors are no longer allowed to do anything, she says:

»For example, tutors are not allowed to start a game of beer pong, because according to the tutor contract it is ‘encouraging drinking’. But I can promise you they still do it anyway. I think we’ve reached a point — because the debate is no longer as prominent as it used to be — where people just accept that the new contract is broken sometimes. And that’s how they deal with it.«

When woke has, according to Josefine Paaske, won, it is therefore partly a symbolic or rhetorical victory. People have learned what is the correct thing to say, she believes, but that does not necessarily mean they follow it when the music starts playing:

»And thank goodness for that.«

Is the war over?

The idea that woke has won in words but died in action is not something Associate Professor of Rhetoric Kristine Marie Berg accepts.

»You are talking to a rhetoric lecturer, and I wouldn’t make that division between rhetoric and reality — that rhetoric is just something we say.«

Okay, so let’s take an example: We have all now learned to say ‘chairperson’. But does it matter if we still end up choosing a man for the position?

»I understand what you mean. But calling it ‘chairperson’ might, in the long run, make it more natural not to only look to the men when deciding on a candidate.«

The rhetorical victory therefore has real implications:

»There are people for whom it means a lot in itself that the right words are used,« she says, giving a hypothetical example:

»If someone says, ‘I must remember to use the correct pronouns when I’m with this or that person, but when we’re not together, I don’t care,’ it still matters to the people you use the correct pronouns for.«

Perhaps here is the beginning of a pragmatic synthesis between the opposing sides in the university’s woke debate. For if woke really is dead, perhaps it is most of all in its function as an irreconcilable battlefield?

»Woke has, to a large extent, also been a battleground,« says Kristine Marie Berg.

In other words, a space where opponents clash between each trench. And where there may be, on each side of the heated frontlines, a large majority who are indeed more in agreement with one camp, but who above all no longer have the energy for the fight.

»When you called and said you wanted to write about the woke debate, I just felt a bit tired,« as the rhetoric lecturer puts it.

As chair of Conservative Students Josefine Paaske says, it has been a long time since we had a real ‘case’:

»The debate simply doesn’t rage today the way it did seven years ago,« she notes.

This applies here at UCPH just as in the rest of society. And perhaps this is what is really meant when we say woke is dead:

It is not the awareness of social injustice, racism and inequality — the first definition in the dictionary — that is over. But in both camps, the excessive, demonstrative, and confrontational aspect is coming to an end.

In that sense, we can declare woke dead at UCPH — and yet not. For in the end, the question can only be answered by the entirety of the university populace; the frontline fighters, the collaborators, and the resistance, to stay with the war metaphor.

So ask yourself, dear reader: Is woke dead for you?