{"id":91945,"date":"2019-09-02T11:00:32","date_gmt":"2019-09-02T09:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/overblik-saadan-endte-koebenhavns-universitet-midt-i-kraenkelsesdebatten\/"},"modified":"2019-09-02T11:57:40","modified_gmt":"2019-09-02T09:57:40","slug":"how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/how-the-university-of-copenhagen-became-a-centre-of-the-offensive-behaviour-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"How the University of Copenhagen became a centre of the offensive behaviour debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

T<\/span>he debate about offensive behaviour \u2013 and perhaps, to a greater extent, the debate about whether your freedom of speech has been violated when someone gets offended by something you did \u2013 flared up in earnest at the University of Copenhagen in the summer of 2018. The tutors at the Faculty of Law got a \u00bbrecommendation to reconsider\u00ab their costume parties on their introduction camps for new students, which had themes like ‘Mexicans’ and ‘The ghetto’.<\/p>\n

The debate spread quickly, and media throughout the country wrote how it would no longer be possible to tell an obscene joke in Copenhagen’s old halls of higher learning. However, in order to understand how the debate went down at the University of Copenhagen, and to understand why a recommendation to reconsider a theme for a costume party suddenly went off the rails, we have to go back a few years.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Ten Little Indians And Then There Were None: How do you do intro camp without causing offence in 2019?<\/a><\/em>
\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.
\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
\nBack at university, there was also backwash from the #metoo wave. 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

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 MORE<\/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
\nAfter Christmas, 23 January 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, which is central).<\/p>\n

This is probably still enough for the debate to continue.
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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of sexism, drinking and crazy initiation rituals, a global #metoo movement and a set of guidelines on how to deal with offensive behaviour made the University of Copenhagen the centre of a stormy debate last year.","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}}}]},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p><span class=\"dropcap\">T<\/span>he debate about offensive behaviour \u2013 and perhaps, to a greater extent, the debate about whether your freedom of speech has been violated when someone gets offended by something you did \u2013 flared up in earnest at the University of Copenhagen in the summer of 2018. The tutors at the Faculty of Law got a \u00bbrecommendation to reconsider\u00ab their costume parties on their introduction camps for new students, which had themes like ‘Mexicans’ and ‘The ghetto’.<\/p>\n<p>The debate spread quickly, and media throughout the country wrote how it would no longer be possible to tell an obscene joke in Copenhagen’s old halls of higher learning. However, in order to understand how the debate went down at the University of Copenhagen, and to understand why a recommendation to reconsider a theme for a costume party suddenly went off the rails, we have to go back a few years.<\/p>\n<p><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><\/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"},{"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":"2018","style":"heavy","highlighted_words":"2018","text_size":"small"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>Back at university, there was also backwash from the #metoo wave. 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>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><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><\/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":"2019","style":"heavy","highlighted_words":"2019","text_size":"small"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Content","content":"<p>After Christmas, 23 January 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, which is central).<\/p>\n<p>This is probably still enough for the debate to continue.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"ArticleEnd"},{"acf_fc_layout":"OtherStories","headline":"L\u00e6s mere","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":91875,"post_author":"71","post_date":"2019-08-27 12:45:43","post_date_gmt":"2019-08-27 10:45:43","post_content":"<h2>Verbum<\/h2>\r\n<strong>Oprindelse\u00a0<\/strong>\r\nOrdet stammer fra\u00a0middelnedertysk\u00a0krenken\u00a0'g\u00f8re svag', afledt af\u00a0krank\u00a0'svag, syg', oprindelig 'krummet'.\u00a0\u2019Kr\u00e6nkelse\u2019\u00a0optr\u00e6der f\u00f8rste gang i Gammel Dansk Ordbog i 1406, hvor det betyder at bryde freden, fx mellem to lande.\u00a0\u2019Kr\u00e6nkelse\u2019\u00a0optr\u00e6der i tredje Mosebog i den tidligste danske bibelovers\u00e6ttelse fra 1475,\u00a0og\u00a0her betyder det at kr\u00e6nke seksuelt. I Moths ordbog fra 1700-tallet findes\u00a0krenke,\u00a0som betyder\u00a0\u00bbat g\u00f8re fortr\u00e6d, skade, uret, vold.\u00ab\u00a0Fokus er p\u00e5 akt\u00f8ren, der udf\u00f8rer handlingen, p\u00e5\u00a0kr\u00e6nkeren.\r\n\r\n<strong>Betydninger\u00a0<\/strong>\r\n1.\u00a0At skade eller beg\u00e5 overgreb mod nogens \u00e6re, selvf\u00f8lelse el.lign.\r\n1.a. At beg\u00e5 seksuelt overgreb mod nogen; voldtage\r\n\r\n2. At st\u00f8de private eller almene f\u00f8lelser, sociale, moralske eller religi\u00f8se normer el.lign.\r\nDenne nye betydning med fokus p\u00e5 f\u00f8lelser og normer introduceres i 2004 i Den Danske Ordbog.\r\n\r\n3. At bryde eller udvise mangel p\u00e5 respekt for is\u00e6r politiske eller juridiske aftaler og bestemmelser\n<!-- end of module 1 -->\n<h2>Substantiv, afledning af verbet kr\u00e6nke og substantivet kr\u00e6nkelse<\/h2>\r\n<strong>Oprindelse<\/strong>\r\n\u2019Kr\u00e6nkelseskultur\u2019\u00a0dukker f\u00f8rste gang op i Den Danske Ordbogs tekstsamling i 2007. Den dansk-libanesiske Politiken-skribent Hanna\u00a0Ziadeh\u00a0bruger ordet til at beskrive en kultur, han\u00a0h\u00e6vder\u00a0hersker blandt ledere i arabiske lande, som \u00f8nsker at udnytte Muhammed-krisen politisk. Dagbladet Information bruger ogs\u00e5 ordet i 2007, og herefter spreder det sig til borgerlige medier som Weekendavisen, Jyllands-Posten og Berlingske. Brugen af ordet stiger eksplosivt i 2017 og 2018.\r\n\r\n<strong>Betydninger<\/strong>\r\nLadet ord.\u00a0Bruges til at beskrive en kultur, hvor en stor gruppe mennesker, enten minoritetspersoner eller talspersoner for dem, f\u00f8ler sig kr\u00e6nket. Fokus er p\u00e5 modtageren af en kr\u00e6nkelse og dennes reaktion. Der er modsat fokus fra verbet\u00a0kr\u00e6nke\u00a0og substantivet\u00a0kr\u00e6nkelse,\u00a0der begge fokuserer p\u00e5 akt\u00f8ren, kr\u00e6nkeren.\u00a0Kr\u00e6nkelseskultur\u00a0optr\u00e6der ofte sammen med\u00a0identitetspolitik.\n<!-- end of module 2 -->\n<h2>Adjektiv, afledning af verbet\u00a0kr\u00e6nke\u00a0og substantivet\u00a0kr\u00e6nkelse<\/h2>\r\n<strong>Oprindelse<\/strong>\r\nBruges f\u00f8rste gang i 2011 af debatt\u00f8r og teolog Katrine Winkel Holm, som er medstifter af og n\u00e6stformand i Trykkefrihedsselskabet og medstifter af Islamkritisk Netv\u00e6rk. Holm bruger ordet til at beskrive \u2019den altid kr\u00e6nkelsesparate muslimske verden\u2019. Brugen af ordet stiger meget i 2017 og 2018.\r\n\r\n<strong>Betydninger<\/strong>\r\nLadet ord. Bruges til at beskrive en gruppe mennesker, der er parate til at lade sig kr\u00e6nke. Der er modsat fokus fra verbet\u00a0kr\u00e6nke\u00a0og substantivet\u00a0kr\u00e6nkelse,\u00a0der begge fokuserer p\u00e5 akt\u00f8ren, kr\u00e6nkeren.\r\nAlternativ betydning: En gruppe mennesker, der bliver kr\u00e6nket over, at andre mennesker siger fra over\u00a0for en kr\u00e6nkelse.\r\n\r\n<em>Dette er udformet som et ordbogsopslag, men er det ikke. Indholdet stammer fra et interview med Jonas Jensen, seniorredakt\u00f8r p\u00e5 Den Danske Ordbog samt ordbogsopslagene for \u2019kr\u00e6nke\u2019 og \u2019kr\u00e6nkelse\u2019. Ordene \u2019kr\u00e6nkelseskultur\u2019 og \u2019kr\u00e6nkelsesparat\u2019 er endnu ikke defineret i Den Danske Ordbog.\u202f Den Danske Ordbog er\u00a0deskriptiv, ikke normativ. Ordbogen beskriver, hvordan et ord bruges p\u00e5 nuv\u00e6rende tidspunkt og er ikke en m\u00e5lestok for\u00a0god sprogbrug.<\/em>\n<!-- end of module 3 -->\n","post_title":"Kend dine kr\u00e6nkelsesbegreber med Uniavisens kr\u00e6nkelsesordbog","post_excerpt":"Hvorn\u00e5r begyndte vi at sige 'kr\u00e6nkelseskultur' og 'kr\u00e6nkelsesparat'? Og hvad betyder ordene egentlig?","post_status":"publish","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","post_password":"","post_name":"kend-dine-kraenkelsesbegreber-med-uniavisens-kraenkelsesordbog","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2019-08-30 09:11:19","post_modified_gmt":"2019-08-30 07:11:19","post_content_filtered":"","post_parent":0,"guid":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/?p=91875\/","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":"Dansk","identifier":"Nyhedsbrev","headline":"Modtag et ugentligt nyhedsoverblik i din inbox","button_text":"Tilmeld nu","class":""}]},"taxonomyData":{"category":[{"term_id":2177,"name":"Academic 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