{"id":117303,"date":"2021-03-08T12:41:24","date_gmt":"2021-03-08T11:41:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/?p=117303"},"modified":"2021-03-08T12:50:18","modified_gmt":"2021-03-08T11:50:18","slug":"how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Timeline: Offensive behaviour and identity politics at the University of Copenhagen"},"content":{"rendered":"

I<\/span>t keeps on happening: The University of Copenhagen ends up in the media under headlines about offensive behaviour and identity policy.<\/p>\n

This time, it is the Department of Political Science that is the focal point of the debate, and once again the students’ intro rituals are in focus. And if you get the feeling that you have read all this before, it’s not you that is going nuts.<\/p>\n

The discussion, again, is on whether you should dress up as other nationalities and cultivate stereotypes, or whether you should just, not, do it, at the intro camps.<\/p>\n

If you yourself have lost your overview of all the positions in the debates about sombrero hats, obscene jokes and welcoming rituals, please read on.
\n
\nWe start right now at the present time.<\/p>\n

At the Department of Political Science they have a tradition. In the first, introduction week, new students are divided into groups with countries as the names for themes<\/strong>, and most of the students have good fun making theme songs and dressing up as Chinese people or Swedes.<\/p>\n

But this tradition is now over<\/strong>, according to the student newspaper at the Department of Political Science \u2018Med Andre Ord\u2019.<\/a> The announcement from the department follows a complaint in the wake of the 2020 intro week.<\/p>\n

\u00bbAs inclusion and integration of all new students should be a top priority for the intro week, the Dean\u2019s Office and the department management team have decided that it is time to think again. All new students need to start their student life with a sense of belonging and under safe conditions,\u00ab write department head Nina Gr\u00e6ger and head of studies Anders Berg-S\u00f8rensen on the university intranet.<\/p>\n

And can’t you just name the groups something else? Animals? Or planets? No, according to many current and former political science students.<\/p>\n

In a featured comment on the Danish-language section of the University Post<\/a>, Christian Holst Vigilius, who is a political science student and national chairman of the Conservative Students group, writes that management at his department \u00bbis spineless.\u00ab<\/p>\n

He does not think that the few students who have complained about the \u2018country\u2019 theme should spoil it for the rest, he writes.<\/p>\n

\u00bbThe solution, in other words, is not to completely ban a tradition that a clear majority is fond of, and which for many is a key part of a good start to their study programme.\u00ab<\/p>\n

The same point is made by centre-right politicians on the Berlingske news site.<\/a>
\n
\nIn 2019, offensive behaviour was on the agenda. At the start of 2019, the University\u2019s General Collaboration Committee HSU decided that the guidelines for handling offensive behaviour should be changed.<\/p>\n

13 June 2019, the University of Copenhagen sent a revised set of guidelines for consultation with employees. The controversial formulation on the employee’s or student’s subjective sense of being offended being central, was taken out. It now states that management at the university can assess that something is not offensive<\/strong>, even if a student or employee thinks otherwise. The university now refers to the Danish Working Environment Authority’s general guidance on offensive behaviour. (Where it is still the subjective experience of being offended, which is central).
\n
\n2018 was a crazy year for the University of Copenhagen in terms of the debate over giving, and taking, offence.<\/p>\n

In February 2018, the Magisterbladet magazine looked into whether students had been subjected to sexism on their studies and on the student jobs<\/strong>. 11 per cent of female students reported unwanted touching, hugging, or kisses on the student job, 8 per cent on their study programmes in the course of the last year.<\/p>\n

On 13 February 2018, a group claiming to be 48 anonymous female students from five universities, including the University of Copenhagen, submitted an open letter to their rectors through the newspaper Information. They appealed for a strong response to offensive behaviour from fellow students and staff.<\/p>\n

READ ALSO:<\/strong> Ten Little Indians And Then There Were None: How do you do intro camp without causing offence in 2019?<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

On 20 February 2018, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Employment submitted an official letter to managers, companies and public institutions in Denmark, where they called for sexual harassment in the workplace to be put on the agenda. It was all about civility and respect for others\u2019 boundaries.<\/p>\n

S\u00f8ren Pind, former Minister for Higher Education and Science, also joined in. On 11 April 2018 he sent a letter to the Danish universities and encouraged them to draw up \u00bbclear, well-informed and up-to-date guidelines for the handling of unacceptable behaviour\u00ab.<\/p>\n

And sexual harassment and civility came on the agenda at the University of Copenhagen, and people got … upset. On 25 June 2018, the university published its new policy on offensive behaviour<\/strong>, which included that \u00bbit is the employee’s or the student’s experience of having been subjected to offensive behaviour that is the starting point.\u00ab This exact sentence, and a ‘zero tolerance’ formulation set off a debate.<\/p>\n

When the University Post on 13 September 2018 published an article about the new guidelines, with an angle that it was no longer possible to tell obscene jokes on campus, things went fast.<\/p>\n

On 16 September Jacob Mchangama, director of the think tank Justitia, published an e-mail from the University of Copenhagen on his Facebook profile. The email was addressed to the tutors at the Faculty of Law and was about the themes for the parties in the intro week. Prior to this, management at the Faculty of Law had received three enquiries from students who experienced the theme parties as offensive<\/strong>, and they encouraged the tutors to reconsider them.<\/p>\n

Three days later on 19 September, the University Post wrote that the Faculty of Law were not allowed to hold their theme parties at the university. A tutor, Jakob Krabbe S\u00f8rensen, said on behalf of all the law tutors, that this was \u00bbexercising prior censorship\u00ab. It was clear that the university’s recommendation was a requirement.<\/p>\n

The day after, on 20 September, the University Post followed up the case with a question from an anonymous employee at the University of Copenhagen, who was in doubt as to whether he would still be able to use the term \u2018academic erection\u2019 and be in accordance with the new guidelines. Both the trade unions Dj\u00f8f and the Danish Association of Masters and PhDs (DM) called for calm: Take it easy, both sides in a case have to be heard.<\/p>\n

READ ALSO<\/strong>:Beatings, bombs and sex with a pig’s head: The university’s crazy initiation rituals through time<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

A few months later, the debate flared up again. 14 December 2018 weekly newspaper Weekendavisen wrote that an associate professor at the Faculty of Humanities had been called in for a disciplinary conversation, which he had no idea what was about, and that he was being scrutinised. A group of anonymous students had complained to the dean arguing that the associate professor’s teaching was sexist, racist and eurocentric<\/strong>. The inquiry did not find that the associate professor had been racist or sexist, but \u2013 and there is a but \u2013 there had been a lack of sensitivity and understanding on his part for sensitive topics. The associate professor was not allowed to teach for the rest of the semester, and he was not allowed to supervise theses in the following semester. The debate was now about the extent to which the university’s guidelines had reduced academic freedom at the university.<\/p>\n

20 December at an internal debate meeting, it was commonly agreed that the guidelines for dealing with offensive behaviour should be changed. <\/strong>
\n
\nBoth in 2015 and 2017, at various places at the University of Copenhagen, it was possible to participate in a so-called ‘Bar Mitzvah’ which played on stereotypes about Jews<\/strong> being stingy. In 2015, it was the Department of Anthropology that encouraged students to bring along their ‘Jew gold’ to the bar, and in 2017 it was the medicine students that advertised that they \u00bbswap and trade Kahlua at very favourable prices in the best Jewish style.\u00ab The bars were criticized by Associate Professor of Anthropology Karen Lisa Salamon. But even though the Dean of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Ulla Wewer, said that a limit had been transgressed in the bar descriptions, it did not lead to a major discussion.<\/p>\n

It was also in September 2017 that students at the Department of Economics organised a ‘Men’s Friday bar’<\/strong>, where men could be Rambo-macho and sling a girl (who was willing) over their shoulders. It was just meant as satire, the organisers said in their defence, but the party was not fun, but excluded people, said the critics.<\/p>\n

And then something happened off campus and outside Denmark’s borders. In the autumn of 2017 the global #metoo wave surged like a virtual tsunami<\/strong>. All over the world, women talked about their sexual abuse experiences. The many testimonies changed fundamentally the way we talked about giving offence in the public debate.
\n
\nThe theme party was not the first time we talked about where the limits are for fun intro weeks at the University of Copenhagen. As early as 2014, the University of Copenhagen and, in particular, the Department of Political Science, got bad press when the University Post wrote about sexism, drinking and stark initiation rituals<\/strong> on the intro camps. (It included something about closing your eyes and burying your fingers in a fist of Nutella, and caressing the mouth of a cut-off sheep\u2019s head, because it felt like labia.) But the Danish word for offence, \u2018kr\u00e6nkelse\u2019 had not yet become a buzzword. At the time, we talked more about a culture of sexism and drinking.<\/p>\n

This article was first published in August 2019. We have re-released this article as a result of the new debate over intro courses at the Department of Political Science. You can read the original article here.<\/a><\/em>
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It keeps on happening: Stories of sexism and crazy initiation rituals, the global #metoo movement, and guidelines on offensive behaviour keep the University of Copenhagen at the centre of a stormy debate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":117343,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3792],"tags":[711,1604,3502],"class_list":["post-117303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-life","tag-intro-courses","tag-offence","tag-racism","expression-feature_article"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nTimeline: Offensive behaviour and identity politics at the University of Copenhagen \u2014 University Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It keeps on happening: Stories of sexism and crazy initiation rituals, the global #metoo movement, and guidelines on offensive behaviour keep the University of Copenhagen at the centre of a stormy debate.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Timeline: Offensive behaviour and identity politics at the University of Copenhagen \u2014 University Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It keeps on happening: Stories of sexism and crazy initiation rituals, the global #metoo movement, and guidelines on offensive behaviour keep the University of Copenhagen at the centre of a stormy debate.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"University Post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uniavis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-08T11:41:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-03-08T11:50:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/indianer5_fb.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sally Frydenlund\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"It keeps on happening: Stories of sexism and crazy initiation rituals, the global #metoo movement, and guidelines on offensive behaviour keep the University of Copenhagen at the centre of a stormy debate.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Uniavisen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Uniavisen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sally Frydenlund\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sally Frydenlund\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a6743b69d2bf4c9cd50ffab8129fcddd\"},\"headline\":\"Timeline: Offensive behaviour and identity politics at the University of Copenhagen\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-08T11:41:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-08T11:50:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1636,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/indianer5_fb.png\",\"keywords\":[\"intro courses\",\"Offence\",\"racism\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Student life\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\\\/\",\"name\":\"Timeline: Offensive behaviour and identity politics at the University of Copenhagen \u2014 University Post\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/indianer5_fb.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-08T11:41:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-03-08T11:50:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a6743b69d2bf4c9cd50ffab8129fcddd\"},\"description\":\"It keeps on happening: Stories of sexism and crazy initiation rituals, the global #metoo movement, and guidelines on offensive behaviour keep the University of Copenhagen at the centre of a stormy debate.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/indianer5_fb.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/indianer5_fb.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":628},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Timeline: Offensive behaviour and identity politics at the University of Copenhagen\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/\",\"name\":\"University Post\",\"description\":\"Independent of management\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a6743b69d2bf4c9cd50ffab8129fcddd\",\"name\":\"Sally Frydenlund\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/fbaf447479f47ad037f7256944bc75b2f0f090f079be3f46d9f4944ab5b13db1?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/fbaf447479f47ad037f7256944bc75b2f0f090f079be3f46d9f4944ab5b13db1?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/fbaf447479f47ad037f7256944bc75b2f0f090f079be3f46d9f4944ab5b13db1?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sally Frydenlund\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/author\\\/sally-frydenlund\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Timeline: Offensive behaviour and identity politics at the University of Copenhagen \u2014 University Post","description":"It keeps on happening: Stories of sexism and crazy initiation rituals, the global #metoo movement, and guidelines on offensive behaviour keep the University of Copenhagen at the centre of a stormy debate.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Timeline: Offensive behaviour and identity politics at the University of Copenhagen \u2014 University Post","og_description":"It keeps on happening: Stories of sexism and crazy initiation rituals, the global #metoo movement, and guidelines on offensive behaviour keep the University of Copenhagen at the centre of a stormy debate.","og_url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\/","og_site_name":"University Post","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uniavis","article_published_time":"2021-03-08T11:41:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-03-08T11:50:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/indianer5_fb.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Sally Frydenlund","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_description":"It keeps on happening: Stories of sexism and crazy initiation rituals, the global #metoo movement, and guidelines on offensive behaviour keep the University of Copenhagen at the centre of a stormy debate.","twitter_creator":"@Uniavisen","twitter_site":"@Uniavisen","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sally Frydenlund","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\/"},"author":{"name":"Sally Frydenlund","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#\/schema\/person\/a6743b69d2bf4c9cd50ffab8129fcddd"},"headline":"Timeline: Offensive behaviour and identity politics at the University of Copenhagen","datePublished":"2021-03-08T11:41:24+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-08T11:50:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\/"},"wordCount":1636,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/indianer5_fb.png","keywords":["intro courses","Offence","racism"],"articleSection":["Student life"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\/","url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\/","name":"Timeline: Offensive behaviour and identity politics at the University of Copenhagen \u2014 University Post","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/indianer5_fb.png","datePublished":"2021-03-08T11:41:24+00:00","dateModified":"2021-03-08T11:50:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#\/schema\/person\/a6743b69d2bf4c9cd50ffab8129fcddd"},"description":"It keeps on happening: Stories of sexism and crazy initiation rituals, the global #metoo movement, and guidelines on offensive behaviour keep the University of Copenhagen at the centre of a stormy debate.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/indianer5_fb.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/indianer5_fb.png","width":1200,"height":628},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Timeline: Offensive behaviour and identity politics at the University of Copenhagen"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/","name":"University Post","description":"Independent of management","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#\/schema\/person\/a6743b69d2bf4c9cd50ffab8129fcddd","name":"Sally Frydenlund","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fbaf447479f47ad037f7256944bc75b2f0f090f079be3f46d9f4944ab5b13db1?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fbaf447479f47ad037f7256944bc75b2f0f090f079be3f46d9f4944ab5b13db1?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fbaf447479f47ad037f7256944bc75b2f0f090f079be3f46d9f4944ab5b13db1?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Sally Frydenlund"},"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/author\/sally-frydenlund\/"}]}},"advancedCustomFields":{"expression":{"term_id":18,"name":"Feature Article","slug":"feature_article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":18,"taxonomy":"expression","description":"","parent":0,"count":1200,"filter":"raw"},"enable_comments":true,"align_content":"alignleft","feature_color":"#e8cd7d","layout_group":[{"acf_fc_layout":"Headline","use_post_title":true,"headline":"","style":"heavy","highlighted_words":"Timeline: ","text_size":"small"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Image","image":{"ID":117343,"id":117343,"title":"indianer5_fb","filename":"indianer5_fb.png","filesize":687053,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/indianer5_fb.png","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate-2\/indianer5_fb-2\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"indianer5_fb-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":117303,"date":"2019-12-26 21:57:34","modified":"2019-12-26 21:57:34","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1200,"height":628,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/indianer5_fb-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/indianer5_fb-480x251.png","medium-width":480,"medium-height":251,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/indianer5_fb-768x402.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":402,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/indianer5_fb.png","large-width":1200,"large-height":628,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/indianer5_fb.png","1536x1536-width":1200,"1536x1536-height":628,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/indianer5_fb.png","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":628,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/indianer5_fb-290x152.png","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":152,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/indianer5_fb-290x180.png","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/indianer5_fb-700x366.png","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":366,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/indianer5_fb-990x518.png","extended-width":990,"extended-height":518}},"style":"extended","text_placement":"metadata-below","image_link_url":"","image_link_title":"","caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":false,"alternative_caption":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"Standfirst","subject":"Timeline","text":"It keeps on happening: Stories of sexism and crazy initiation rituals, the global #metoo movement, and guidelines on offensive behaviour keep the University of Copenhagen at the centre of a stormy debate.","use_post_excerpt":false},{"acf_fc_layout":"Byline","is_author":false,"contributors":[{"use_registered_user":false,"user":false,"contributor_name":"Maria Brus Pedersen","contributor_title":"Journalist","contributor_image":{"ID":89663,"id":89663,"title":"11025131_720279258093570_1813581540908184401_n","filename":"110251317202792580935701813581540908184401n-e1562835678794.jpg","filesize":52967,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/110251317202792580935701813581540908184401n-e1562835678794.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/her-er-den-eneste-guide-til-boligstoette-du-har-brug-for\/11025131_720279258093570_1813581540908184401_n\/","alt":"","author":"71","description":"Maria Brus Pedersen","caption":"","name":"11025131_720279258093570_1813581540908184401_n","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":89661,"date":"2019-07-11 09:00:03","modified":"2019-09-16 06:53:46","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":856,"height":638,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/110251317202792580935701813581540908184401n-e1562835678794-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/110251317202792580935701813581540908184401n-e1562835678794-480x358.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":358,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/110251317202792580935701813581540908184401n-e1562835678794-768x572.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":572,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/110251317202792580935701813581540908184401n-e1562835678794.jpg","large-width":856,"large-height":638,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/110251317202792580935701813581540908184401n-e1562835678794.jpg","1536x1536-width":856,"1536x1536-height":638,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/110251317202792580935701813581540908184401n-e1562835678794.jpg","2048x2048-width":856,"2048x2048-height":638,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/110251317202792580935701813581540908184401n-e1562835678794-290x216.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":216,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/110251317202792580935701813581540908184401n-e1562835678794-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/110251317202792580935701813581540908184401n-e1562835678794-700x522.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":522,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/110251317202792580935701813581540908184401n-e1562835678794.jpg","extended-width":856,"extended-height":638}}},{"use_registered_user":true,"user":{"ID":79,"user_firstname":"Sally","user_lastname":"Frydenlund","nickname":"Sally Frydenlund","user_nicename":"sally-frydenlund","display_name":"Sally Frydenlund","user_email":"sally.frydenlund@uniavisen.dk","user_url":"","user_registered":"2020-10-01 09:17:49","user_description":"","user_avatar":"<img alt='' src='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fbaf447479f47ad037f7256944bc75b2f0f090f079be3f46d9f4944ab5b13db1?s=96&d=identicon&r=g' srcset='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fbaf447479f47ad037f7256944bc75b2f0f090f079be3f46d9f4944ab5b13db1?s=192&d=identicon&r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-96 photo' height='96' width='96' loading='lazy' decoding='async'\/>"},"contributor_name":"","contributor_title":"","contributor_image":false}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p><span class=\"dropcap\">I<\/span>t keeps on happening: The University of Copenhagen ends up in the media under headlines about offensive behaviour and identity policy.<\/p>\n<p>This time, it is the Department of Political Science that is the focal point of the debate, and once again the students’ intro rituals are in focus. And if you get the feeling that you have read all this before, it’s not you that is going nuts.<\/p>\n<p>The discussion, again, is on whether you should dress up as other nationalities and cultivate stereotypes, or whether you should just, not, do it, at the intro camps.<\/p>\n<p>If you yourself have lost your overview of all the positions in the debates about sombrero hats, obscene jokes and welcoming rituals, please read on.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Headline","use_post_title":false,"headline":"2021","style":"heavy","highlighted_words":"2021","text_size":"small"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>We start right now at the present time.<\/p>\n<p>At the Department of Political Science they have a tradition. <strong>In the first, introduction week, new students are divided into groups with countries as the names for themes<\/strong>, and most of the students have good fun making theme songs and dressing up as Chinese people or Swedes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>But this tradition is now over<\/strong>, according to the student newspaper at the Department of Political Science<a href=\"http:\/\/medandreord.dk\/instituttet-afskaffer-lande-paa-statskundskab\/\"> \u2018Med Andre Ord\u2019.<\/a> The announcement from the department follows a complaint in the wake of the 2020 intro week.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbAs inclusion and integration of all new students should be a top priority for the intro week, the Dean\u2019s Office and the department management team have decided that it is time to think again. All new students need to start their student life with a sense of belonging and under safe conditions,\u00ab write department head Nina Gr\u00e6ger and head of studies Anders Berg-S\u00f8rensen on the university intranet.<\/p>\n<p>And can’t you just name the groups something else? Animals? Or planets? No, according to many current and former political science students.<\/p>\n<p>In a featured comment <a href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/institutledelsen-skal-ikke-oedelaegge-vores-introforloeb\/\">on the Danish-language section of the University Post<\/a>, Christian Holst Vigilius, who is a political science student and national chairman of the Conservative Students group, writes that management at his department \u00bbis spineless.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>He does not think that the few students who have complained about the \u2018country\u2019 theme should spoil it for the rest, he writes.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThe solution, in other words, is not to completely ban a tradition that a clear majority is fond of, and which for many is a key part of a good start to their study programme.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>The same point is made by centre-right politicians on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.berlingske.dk\/politik\/konservative-ruller-med-oejnene-over-forbud-mod-tradition-paa-universitet\">the Berlingske news site.<\/a><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Headline","use_post_title":false,"headline":"2019","style":"heavy","highlighted_words":"2019","text_size":"small"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>In 2019, offensive behaviour was on the agenda. At the start of 2019, the University\u2019s General Collaboration Committee HSU decided that the guidelines for handling offensive behaviour should be changed.<\/p>\n<p>13 June 2019, the University of Copenhagen sent a revised set of guidelines for consultation with employees. The controversial formulation on the employee’s or student’s subjective sense of being offended being central, was taken out. It now states that <strong>management at the university can assess that something is not offensive<\/strong>, even if a student or employee thinks otherwise. The university now refers to the Danish Working Environment Authority’s general guidance on offensive behaviour. (Where it is still the subjective experience of being offended, which is central).<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Headline","use_post_title":false,"headline":"2018","style":"heavy","highlighted_words":"2018","text_size":"small"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>2018 was a crazy year for the University of Copenhagen in terms of the debate over giving, and taking, offence.<\/p>\n<p>In February 2018, the Magisterbladet magazine looked into whether <strong>students had been subjected to sexism on their studies and on the student jobs<\/strong>. 11 per cent of female students reported unwanted touching, hugging, or kisses on the student job, 8 per cent on their study programmes in the course of the last year.<\/p>\n<p>On 13 February 2018, a group claiming to be 48 anonymous female students from five universities, including the University of Copenhagen, submitted an open letter to their rectors through the newspaper Information. They appealed for a strong response to offensive behaviour from fellow students and staff.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ ALSO:<\/strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/ten-little-indians-and-then-there-were-none-how-do-you-do-intro-camp-without-giving-offence-in-2019\/\"> Ten Little Indians And Then There Were None: How do you do intro camp without causing offence in 2019?<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>On 20 February 2018, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Employment submitted an official letter to managers, companies and public institutions in Denmark, where they called for sexual harassment in the workplace to be put on the agenda. It was all about civility and respect for others\u2019 boundaries.<\/p>\n<p>S\u00f8ren Pind, former Minister for Higher Education and Science, also joined in. On 11 April 2018 he sent a letter to the Danish universities and encouraged them to draw up \u00bbclear, well-informed and up-to-date guidelines for the handling of unacceptable behaviour\u00ab.<\/p>\n<p>And sexual harassment and civility came on the agenda at the University of Copenhagen, and people got … upset. On 25 June 2018, <strong>the university published its new policy on offensive behaviour<\/strong>, which included that \u00bbit is the employee’s or the student’s experience of having been subjected to offensive behaviour that is the starting point.\u00ab This exact sentence, and a ‘zero tolerance’ formulation set off a debate.<\/p>\n<p>When the University Post on 13 September 2018 published an article about the new guidelines, with an angle that it was no longer possible to tell obscene jokes on campus, things went fast.<\/p>\n<p>On 16 September Jacob Mchangama, director of the think tank Justitia, published an e-mail from the University of Copenhagen on his Facebook profile. The email was addressed to the tutors at the Faculty of Law and was about the themes for the parties in the intro week. Prior to this, management at the Faculty of Law had received three enquiries <strong>from students who experienced the theme parties as offensive<\/strong>, and they encouraged the tutors to reconsider them.<\/p>\n<p>Three days later on 19 September, the University Post wrote that the Faculty of Law were not allowed to hold their theme parties at the university. A tutor, Jakob Krabbe S\u00f8rensen, said on behalf of all the law tutors, that this was \u00bbexercising prior censorship\u00ab. It was clear that the university’s recommendation was a requirement.<\/p>\n<p>The day after, on 20 September, the University Post followed up the case with a question from an anonymous employee at the University of Copenhagen, who was in doubt as to whether he would still be able to use the term \u2018academic erection\u2019 and be in accordance with the new guidelines. Both the trade unions Dj\u00f8f and the Danish Association of Masters and PhDs (DM) called for calm: Take it easy, both sides in a case have to be heard.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ ALSO<\/strong>:<em><a href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/beatings-bombs-and-sex-with-a-pigs-head-the-universitys-crazy-initiation-rituals-through-time\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Beatings, bombs and sex with a pig’s head: The university’s crazy initiation rituals through time<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>A few months later, the debate flared up again. 14 December 2018 weekly newspaper Weekendavisen wrote that an associate professor at the Faculty of Humanities had been called in for a disciplinary conversation, which he had no idea what was about, and that he was being scrutinised. A group of anonymous students had complained to the dean arguing that <strong>the associate professor’s teaching was sexist, racist and eurocentric<\/strong>. The inquiry did not find that the associate professor had been racist or sexist, but \u2013 and there is a but \u2013 there had been a lack of sensitivity and understanding on his part for sensitive topics. The associate professor was not allowed to teach for the rest of the semester, and he was not allowed to supervise theses in the following semester. The debate was now about the extent to which the university’s guidelines had reduced academic freedom at the university.<\/p>\n<p>20 December at an internal debate meeting, it was commonly agreed that <strong>the guidelines for dealing with offensive behaviour should be changed. <\/strong><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Headline","use_post_title":false,"headline":"2015-17","style":"heavy","highlighted_words":"2015-17","text_size":"small"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>Both in 2015 and 2017, at various places at the University of Copenhagen, it was possible to participate in a so-called ‘Bar Mitzvah’ which played on <strong>stereotypes about Jews<\/strong> being stingy. In 2015, it was the Department of Anthropology that encouraged students to bring along their ‘Jew gold’ to the bar, and in 2017 it was the medicine students that advertised that they \u00bbswap and trade Kahlua at very favourable prices in the best Jewish style.\u00ab The bars were criticized by Associate Professor of Anthropology Karen Lisa Salamon. But even though the Dean of the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, Ulla Wewer, said that a limit had been transgressed in the bar descriptions, it did not lead to a major discussion.<\/p>\n<p>It was also in September 2017 that students at the Department of Economics organised a <strong>‘Men’s Friday bar’<\/strong>, where men could be Rambo-macho and sling a girl (who was willing) over their shoulders. It was just meant as satire, the organisers said in their defence, but the party was not fun, but excluded people, said the critics.<\/p>\n<p>And then something happened off campus and outside Denmark’s borders. In the autumn of 2017 <strong>the global #metoo wave surged like a virtual tsunami<\/strong>. All over the world, women talked about their sexual abuse experiences. The many testimonies changed fundamentally the way we talked about giving offence in the public debate.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Headline","use_post_title":false,"headline":"2014","style":"heavy","highlighted_words":"2014","text_size":"small"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>The theme party was not the first time we talked about where the limits are for fun intro weeks at the University of Copenhagen. As early as 2014, the University of Copenhagen and, in particular, the Department of Political Science, got bad press when the University Post wrote about <strong>sexism, drinking and stark initiation rituals<\/strong> on the intro camps. (It included something about closing your eyes and burying your fingers in a fist of Nutella, and caressing the mouth of a cut-off sheep\u2019s head, because it felt like labia.) But the Danish word for offence, \u2018kr\u00e6nkelse\u2019 had not yet become a buzzword. At the time, we talked more about a culture of sexism and drinking.<\/p>\n<p><em>This article was first published in August 2019. We have re-released this article as a result of the new debate over intro courses at the Department of Political Science. You can read the <a href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate\/\">original article here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"ArticleEnd"},{"acf_fc_layout":"OtherStories","headline":"Read more","hand_picked_posts":true,"references":[{"reference":{"ID":91916,"post_author":"71","post_date":"2019-09-02 11:10:38","post_date_gmt":"2019-09-02 09:10:38","post_content":"<span class=\"dropcap\">N<\/span>ela Gacic had ordered six sombreros over the Internet. She calls them Mexican hats, and she had bought them because she and a small group of other freshmen were going to represent Mexico at the Olympics. That is, the Olympics-themed party on the introduction camp at the Faculty of Law at The University of Copenhagen that Nela was to go on a few days later.\r\n\r\n\u00bbI usually call it Mexican-gate,\u00ab she says about subsequent events: The costume theme was dropped, the Mexican hats were sent back to the dealer (the small group of students shared the cost of the shipment), a gala party was organised as a quick replacement (\u00bbIt was a bit of a downer, because it is more fun to dress up than put on nice clothes\u00ab), and suddenly the Faculty of Law's parties for new students were Danish media headlines.\r\n\r\nThe message came from the top in the form of an e-mail from associate dean Stine J\u00f8rgensen in which the tutors were asked to reconsider their choice of themes for the party - themes that in addition to the 'Olympics' included 'Cowboys and Indians', 'Mexicans', 'White Trash' and 'Rich Kids'.\r\n\r\nIn the email J\u00f8rgensen stated: \u00bbI recommend strongly that you, with the coordinators, as soon as possible take another look at the costume categories to ensure that the themes live up to the faculty's values of diversity and non-discrimination.\u00ab It was themes with stereotypes on things like ethnicity, sexuality and religion that had to be taken off the programme.\r\n\r\nThe recommendation in the email, was not taken by students as a recommendation, but as a ban.\r\n\r\n\u00bbIt was a major practical problem because we received the email two days before the intro camp, and there were 700 new students who had bought stuff for these themes,\u00ab says Jakob Krabbe S\u00f8rensen, who was an intro camp tutor in 2018. Later, when the associate dean's email was leaked, and the University Post took up the story, he spoke on behalf of the tutors.\r\n<h3>Delicate restrictions<\/h3>\r\nThe university had received three complaints about the party themes before contacting the tutors: A student had called and complained, and two students had sent emails. The faculty responded to the complaints by drawing a red line. And Jakob Krabbe S\u00f8rensen believed then, and now, that this line was placed in the wrong place.\r\n\r\n\u00bbIt is always a trade-off: You have to be able to dress up in a fun way, but you need to be able to take into account that nobody should be offended. Someone might always be offended, or consciously even seek an opportunity to feel offended, and then there needs to be a limit to this somewhere. We thought that this threshold was too low,\u00ab he says, adding that he understands that the university needed to make a quick decision.\r\n\r\n<em>You say there will always be someone who seeks an opportunity to be offended by themes. Do you think this is something that people have made up to set off a debate?<\/em>\r\n\r\n\u00bbI don\u2019t know. It is also a matter about the principle of what space you leave for people who want to exploit it. Someone will always do so.\u00ab\r\n\r\n<em><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/overblik-saadan-endte-koebenhavns-universitet-midt-i-kraenkelsesdebatten\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Overview: This is how the University of Copenhagen became the centre of the debate on offensive behavior<\/a><\/em>\r\n\r\nJakob Krabbe S\u00f8rensen will not say exactly where the line should be drawn, as it is not his job, he says. But he, and the other intro camp tutors at the Faculty of Law, would like to have the process taken up for evaluation.\r\n\r\n\u00bbAnd it certainly already has been,\u00ab he says.\n<!-- end of module 1 -->\nOn dr.dk, the Danish public service broadcaster\u2019s web media, the story headlined with \u2018University of Copenhagen bans offensive costume\u2019, the tabloid B.T. wrote that \u2018University of Copenhagen bans \u2018offensive\u2019 costume\u2019. On the University Post, the story ran as \u2018No dressing up as a Native American, a Mexican, or an Olympic athlete\u2019, and on daily newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad the headline was \u2018Critics: The university goes too far in banning obscene jokes and Indian costumes\u00ab.\r\n\r\nNow, a year later, the debate has left its mark on the planning for this year's intro camps. The discussion was, for a short moment at least, just about what you should be allowed to dress up as, and when particular costume choices might reinforce prejudices. But it is clear in retrospect that the debate went much deeper. It dovetails with a wider debate on taking and giving offence after #metoo and provoked widespread fear among some pundits that Danish universities had succumbed to excessive sensitivity \u2013 just like in the United States, as many Danes will frame it. A costume party at the university suddenly became a wider question about society. The University of Copenhagen wanted to just follow the new trend, but ended up being engulfed in a media storm.\r\n<h3>Neverland had to be dropped<\/h3>\r\nIn the summer of 2018, the University of Copenhagen launched <a href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/guidelines.pdf\">a set of guidelines<\/a>, in which the university stated that it was the individual's subjective experience of an action being offensive that was \u00bbthe starting point\u00ab. The associate dean at the Faculty of Law at the time, Stine J\u00f8rgensen \u2013 who had written the email to the tutors \u2013 told the newspaper Berlingske at the time that the email should be seen as a continuation of an increased focus on gender, sexuality and ethnicity from management.\r\n\r\n\u00bbI see it clearly as an expression of the fact that there is a heightened awareness on how we should relate to each other, and that you should not offend anyone. We had not had prior thoughts about this problem complex. During the past year, more attention has been paid to how you should not have to put up with so much any more. We have been a part of a real trend in society.\u00ab\r\n\r\nThe debate on the costume parties was never solely about the costume parties. It was about who has the right to define an offence at the University of Copenhagen.\r\n\r\nLast year in August, Amanda H\u00f8jbjerg Jacobsen was dressed up as a pirate. She was on the freshers' trip as a student of Theatre and Performance Studies, and the party had the theme of a fictional island 'Neverland'. Others were dressed up as 'the lost boys' from the Peter Pan adventure, and some were dressed as Indians. Today, Amanda H\u00f8jbjerg Jacobsen is a tutor herself. She has helped to plan the upcoming intro trip for freshmen, and this year a theme like 'Neverland' would not have made the cut, she says. \u00bbWe would probably be wary and find another theme because of the Indians.\u00ab\r\n\r\nThere are a lot of thinking pauses when she speaks, she says \u2018hmm\u2019 a lot and her voice sounds like it is a good idea to consider what you say one extra time. She says that the tutors have followed the debate over the past year intensely. They have talked about using a fictional theme, based on an adventure, in the realm of the supernatural, because in this way they can avoid problematic themes. But then again, the fictitious Indians could easily be offensive in the real world.\r\n\r\nThe tutors from Theatre and Performance studies ended up this year with a 'farm theme'. It is so broad, they reckon that the new students can interpret it as they want.\r\n\r\n\u00bbWe have later thought that it might offend someone as it is a very Danish theme. What happens if everybody turns up in overalls, chewing on a straw? We feel that no matter what we choose it feeds into a stereotype,\u00ab says Amanda H\u00f8jbjerg Jacobsen.\r\n\r\n<em>So you reckon that it is the stereotypical part of it that makes it offensive?<\/em>\r\n\r\n\u00bbYes. And it's hard not to stereotype at all.\u00ab\n<!-- end of module 2 -->\nAmanda H\u00f8jbjerg Jacobsen can understand that some students found last year's themes at the Faculty of Law problematic. But she also thinks it is a ... difficult subject.\r\n\r\n\u00bbI think that what is considered offensive is when we generalize about something that is not ... How should I explain it? When we generalise about something that is not very close to us, and which we do not know enough about to state anything about. When it is not typically Danish, it might not be our job to interpret it. On the other hand, I think that what we do in the intro week is fun and games.\u00ab\r\n\r\nAmanda H\u00f8jbjerg Jacobsen finds it hard to talk about. She is afraid to formulate herself in a manner that gives offense. You get the impression that she has simply lost her way in the debate. In this way, she might represent a large, silent student majority very well.\r\n\r\nThe debate about the University of Copenhagen's guidelines for dealing with offensive behaviour has, in the media, been shaped by the voices that can soar up to a place where it is all about freedom of speech. Danish politician Morten Messerschmidt called the University's guidelines a \u2018fatwa\u2019 and called for civil disobedience. \u00bbThis is any freedom-loving student's duty,\u00ab he wrote in a featured comment on the Altinget news site.\r\n\r\n<em><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/beatings-bombs-and-sex-with-a-pigs-head-the-universitys-crazy-initiation-rituals-through-time\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Beatings, bombs and sex with a pig's head: The university's crazy initiation rituals through time<\/a><\/em>\r\n\r\nIt is harder to find people who stood up for the University of Copenhagen and defended the university's intervention in the costume parties.\r\n\r\nFor Jakob Krabbe S\u00f8rensen and the law intro tutors however, the major issue was of a more practical nature, because they had to think up new themes two days before the intro freshers' trip camp. In several cases, they ended up only altering the themes a bit, so students could still use the costumes they had spent money on. 'Cowboys and Indians' became 'The Wild West', 'Mexicans' became a 'Hat Party', 'White Trash' turned into 'Trailer Park'.\r\n\r\nJakob Krabbe S\u00f8rensen says that he understands that the whole mess has led to a debate on freedom of speech. He believes that this debate is important, but: \u00bbOf course, it is not a core part of the freedom of expression that you should be allowed to dress up as a Mexican.\u00ab\r\n<h3>Dizzy with common sense<\/h3>\r\nCarina Meier was a new student at the Faculty of Theology in 2018, and now she is a tutor. She says that it is good that the University of Copenhagen has tightened up the guidelines on offensive behaviour, and she has no objection to the guidelines also applying to costume parties on a freshers' intro trip.\r\n\r\nShe says that the debate in the past year has made a positive contribution to the deliberations of the tutors when planning themes and parties. And even though she is able to understand the argument that it must be up to the tutors themselves to plan their intro course, she thinks it is good with some clear guidelines.\r\n\r\n\u00bbThe tutors need some freedom, but it must be freedom with responsibility. I think it's okay that the University of Copenhagen sets out guidelines when they have received information from people who have felt offended. I can only see something positive in this,\u00ab she says.\r\n\r\nThe debate about offences has taken up a lot in the course of the tutors' planning. But it is not her impression that the tutors at the Faculty of Theology found that there was too much debate. They are not interested in anyone feeling excluded or ridiculed. Of course there is a limit to how many considerations you can take, but: \u00bbyou can never say to someone that they need to just calm down, because they are the ones who know whether they feel offended or not,\u00ab says Carina Meier.\r\n\r\n<em>How do you know whether something has crossed the red line? <\/em>\r\n\r\nCarina Meier responds: \u00bbWe have thought a lot about whether we would think this would be okay if it was us? Everyone is different and has different opinions, but if you use your common sense, I think it cannot go far wrong.\u00ab\r\n\r\nAnd yet: Jacob Krabbe S\u00f8rensen says that when the law tutors planned the themes for their parties last year, they considered themes that on the one hand would be fun and, on the other hand, not be offensive or disrespectful. Of course they were, he says.\n<!-- end of module 3 -->\nSo why did some people find the themes to not be OK? Amanda H\u00f8jbjerg Jacobsen, tutor at Theatre and Performance Studies, says that the question of whether something is offensive or problematic is to a great extent decided by the recipient. In other words, what I find problematic is not necessarily the same thing as what you find problematic. And then common sense doesn\u2019t help. And so we are back with the question: Who decides, in the end, whether something is offensive or not?\r\n\r\nThe university's management does apparently The university's guidelines on handling offence from 2018 have been revised and now only need final approval. In the new version of the guidelines, the offending experience has been replaced with a management assessment. In the old guidelines it stated that it is the \u00bbemployee's or student\u2019s experience of having been subjected to offensive behaviour that is the starting point.\u00ab\r\n\r\nIn the new guidelines it states that: \u00bbThere may be situations where a person has felt offended, but where management finds that no offending action has been committed.\u00ab The University of Copenhagen does, however, in the new guidelines refer to the Danish working environment authority, which takes as its point of departure the individual's experience when it comes to offences \u2013 exactly like the first, heavily criticised, set of rules did.\r\n<h3>The boo factor<\/h3>\r\nConfused? You are not the only one. Let us go back to Carina Meier at Theology. She says that the tutors have worked out an intro course that she does not think will offend anyone. They have not only thought about things like identity, nationality, sexuality, they have also thought about whether the various activities are available to people with different body composition types and different types of personality. They will include a midnight race on the intro camp, where there is a clear rule that it should not in any way be scary or unpleasant.\r\n\r\n\u00bbWe call it the boo factor, because there are some that do not like the dark or being startled in any way,\u00ab says Carina Meier.\r\n\r\nThey have also put in a number of breaks in the programme, so that people can retreat and take a break away from all of the social activities.\r\n\r\n\u00bbAs a tutor, we also respect if there is something that people do not want to get involved in. Even though it is difficult to find an activity that everyone thinks is fun, then it is important that you take into account the cases where people need to be themselves.\u00ab\r\n\r\nBut has it taken a bit of the fun out of tutor role that they have to be so careful and take so many different considerations? \u00bbNot at all,\u00ab she says. \u00bbYou can easily have fun without having to put people down or ridicule them.\u00ab\r\n\r\nThe debate has not changed fundamentally how Amanda H\u00f8jbjerg Jacobsen or Carina Meier how they plan a freshers' trip. But it has made them more aware of what goes down well on the camp, and what they need to avoid. They both think the debate has been important.\r\n\r\nJakob Krabbe S\u00f8rensen says that he hopes that this year there will be more trust in the tutors on the part of the faculties. Trust that they will think, and make sure that intro course camps don\u2019t put people down or offend anyone. He recognises that the faculty management was in a difficult situation last year, but hopes that management will handle it differently this year if there happen to be students who find some of the costume parties inappropriate.\r\n\r\n\u00bbThis could, for example, be done by involving the tutors in the dialogue with the offended students, or by discussing the themes with the faculty management in advance if this is deemed necessary.\u00ab\n<!-- end of module 4 -->\n","post_title":"Ten Little Indians And Then There Were None: How do you do intro camp without causing offence in 2019?","post_excerpt":"In 2018, tutors at the Faculty of Law at The University of Copenhagen were asked to drop a Mexico-themed intro party for new students after complaints of cultural insensitivity. This set off a national debate about identity politics and how to deal with offences. So what are this year's students supposed to do?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"ten-little-indians-and-then-there-were-none-how-do-you-do-intro-camp-without-giving-offence-in-2019","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2025-03-03 10:47:26","post_modified_gmt":"2025-03-03 09:47:26","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en-indi-to-indi-nul-indianere-hvordan-holder-man-kraenkelsesfri-rustur-i-2019\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}},{"reference":{"ID":91984,"post_author":"71","post_date":"2019-09-02 11:05:32","post_date_gmt":"2019-09-02 09:05:32","post_content":"<span class=\"dropcap\">F<\/span>rom the foundation of university in 1479 and the next 200-300 years, the new students had to turn up in the university courtyard in the inner city with a horn on their forehead, a hump on their back, with blackened faces, anything that would make them look like brutes. They represented the uneducated and boorish.\r\n\r\nThen they were brought into a room, examined by an older student, insulted and thrashed (they were, actually, beaten up). The students were whipped with a cane and pinched with a tong so their horns fell off. The pleasure of participating even cost the young freshmen four shillings if they were poor, and eight if they were rich.\r\n\r\nOne of the purposes of the old initiation rites was that the new students could win the others\u2019 respect by enduring the torments. In a university statute from 1539 it is stated that it is useful for students to go through such rituals, because they all need to get used to the fact that life as an academic will lead to mockery and ridicule from the surrounding community.\r\n\r\n<em><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/ten-little-indians-and-then-there-were-none-how-do-you-do-intro-camp-without-giving-offence-in-2019\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ten Little Indians And Then There Were None: How do you do intro camp without causing offence in 2019?<\/a><\/em>\r\n\r\nThe Danish university initiations took place within a closed academic setting, and if things went too far, it would lead to internal disciplinary proceedings and perhaps even a spell in the university prison \u2013 but not, like today, featured comments from distraught parents in the daily press.\r\n\r\nAt the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, the initiation of the new students moved away from the university\u2019s central yard and out of the history books, and now they took place around the city and in the dormitories.\r\n\r\nRight up to the 1960s and 1970s, however, the Danish university was a closed system, and the surrounding community was not alarmed by went on in academia. In the wake of the 60-70\u2019s student protests, the university became more democratic, and the ideology of equality came into the study programmes.\r\n<h3>Students made bombs<\/h3>\r\nWhich brings us to the present when the media, every September, report on the start of the academic year with greater or lesser consternation. In 1993 the daily newspaper Politiken had a number of stories about how students of engineering made bombs in the different Copenhagen residence halls, and several of them said that they had learned it all on an intro camp for freshmen. In 1998, critics said that the entire intro camp was a drinking spree, and in 2001, several camp venues refused to lease them to the thirsty young students.\r\n\r\n\u00bbWe'd rather go bankrupt than say yes to having them again,\u00ab said a landlord from Sams\u00f8.\n<!-- end of module 1 -->\nIt was also in 2001 that the newspaper Politiken wrote about fresher camps at the Roskilde University, where \u00bbinsanely drunk freshmen\u00ab the previous year had organized communal shaving of genitals, and a student reportedly had had sexual intercourse with the head of a pig.\r\n\r\nIn 2004, the Centre for Rape Victims warned against games involving nudity with sexual undertones, because they had received enquiries from women who had felt harassed on Danish fresher camps. And in 2007, the University of Copenhagen decided that there was to be no more drinking the alcoholic \u2018Gammel Dansk\u2019 beverage at breakfasts on intro trips \u2013 now the camps had to comply with the university's drinking and smoking policies.\r\n<h3>Dildos and curried herring<\/h3>\r\nDrinking and sexual excesses were the overall theme of the media's intro camp coverage in the 00s, but this did not seem to change what happened at the camps. A communications student certainly told the daily newspaper Berlingske in 2009 how they on an intro camp played games with a strap-on dildo and had drunk heavily.\r\n\r\nIn 2014, the debate over intro camps trips exploded after it emerged on the student podcast MONO, and subsequently in The University Post, that students at a Political Science intro camp had been made to play sexist games where they were divided into boys' and girls' groups. The male students were told to recount their sexual fantasies about the female students, caress the lips on a sheep's head, and put pork in their underwear to strengthen their libido.\r\n\r\nThe following year, Dj\u00f8f-bladet magazine could reveal that female students at CBS at one of the year's fresher camps were made to simulate oral sex on male students who had juggled a banana between their legs. During a gender-segregated warm-up to celebrations the male students had to \u2013 as an echo of the 2014 scandal from political science \u2013 call the female students sluts and state who they would like to have sex with.\r\n\r\n<em><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/overblik-saadan-endte-koebenhavns-universitet-midt-i-kraenkelsesdebatten\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Overview: This is how the University of Copenhagen became the centre of the debate on offensive behavior<\/a><\/em>\r\n\r\nThe following year, CBS was once again the subject of media attention, when Berlingske described how students had complained that they had to suck wine out of a tampon, make chains of their clothes, and recount private details about their sex life at intro camp.\r\n\r\nAccording to a reliable source, some social science University of Copenhagen departments have been banned from all the camp venues on Zealand.\r\n\r\nAnd in 2018, there was the debate on the theme parties on the University of Copenhagen law programme. It was a featured comment on the daily newspaper Politiken that set off the debate \u2013 here, a student recounted how she on an intro camp had to eat a pack of yeast, suck whisky out of a smelly sock, and lick curried herring off one of her fellow students.\r\n\r\nWill 2019 be free of all this?\r\n\r\n<em>Sources: Morten Fink-Jensen, university historian, University of Copenhagen, Saxo Institute, newspaper articles from Infomedia.<\/em>\n<!-- end of module 2 -->\n","post_title":"Beatings, bombs and sex with a pig's head: The university's crazy initiation rituals through the ages","post_excerpt":"You probably know the hullabaloo: Every year, just around the start of the academic year, the traditional intro camps for freshmen are up for debate. There is too much drinking. Then it\u2019s all about sex. Then the themes are inappropriate. But it is actually a new phenomenon that society outside the university holds an opinion at all about what happens among students. ","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"beatings-bombs-and-sex-with-a-pigs-head-the-universitys-crazy-initiation-rituals-through-time","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2021-03-08 12:10:57","post_modified_gmt":"2021-03-08 11:10:57","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/?p=91984\/","menu_order":0,"post_type":"post","post_mime_type":"","comment_count":"0","filter":"raw"}}],"category":false,"theme":false,"number_of_posts":4,"style":"default"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Newsletter","lang_select":"en","identifier":"Newsletter","headline":"Get a bi-weekly newsletter in your inbox","button_text":"Sign up here","class":""}],"article_updated":""},"taxonomyData":{"category":[{"term_id":3792,"name":"Student life","slug":"student-life","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3792,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":160,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":[{"term_id":711,"name":"intro courses","slug":"intro-courses","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":711,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":4,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":1604,"name":"Offence","slug":"offence","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1604,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":7,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":3502,"name":"racism","slug":"racism","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":3502,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":6,"filter":"raw"}],"post_format":[],"expression":[{"term_id":18,"name":"Feature Article","slug":"feature_article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":18,"taxonomy":"expression","description":"","parent":0,"count":1200,"filter":"raw"}],"translation_priority":[]},"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/indianer5_fb.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117303"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117533,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117303\/revisions\/117533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}