{"id":96883,"date":"2019-11-19T13:00:14","date_gmt":"2019-11-19T12:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/ravinder-kaur-ledelsen-har-ikke-taget-vores-oenske-om-medbestemmelse-serioest\/"},"modified":"2019-11-20T09:28:49","modified_gmt":"2019-11-20T08:28:49","slug":"ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\/","title":{"rendered":"Ravinder Kaur: The administration does not take co-determination seriously"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ravinder Kaur scrolls through a document on the laptop screen in front of her pausing at a sentence she has highlighted in yellow. She reads it out aloud:<\/p>\n

\u00bbThe board ensures the co-determination and involvement of staff and students in material decisions.\u00ab<\/p>\n

This particular passage is probably one of the most frequently quoted parts of the University Act, but Ravinder Kaur isn\u2019t quoting it to celebrate it. She\u2019s quoting it, because she believes the university has neglected to act in accordance with it.<\/p>\n

We need to bolster democratic representation on every level.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00bbWe need to bolster democratic representation on every level. Many of the decisions that have been made in recent years have been rushed, because we haven\u2019t had a proper dialogue between the administration and the people with knowledge of the core tasks,\u00ab she says.<\/p>\n

The people, she is referring to, are the researchers and educators at University of Copenhagen, where she herself has been employed for ten years and is currently associate professor of Modern South Asian Studies and head of the Centre of Global South-Asian Studies.<\/p>\n

It has been necessary to cut back on expenses at the university due to political decision making, but according to Ravinder Kaur cutbacks were executed without proper consideration.<\/p>\n

\u00bbIt\u2019s not always a question of simply cutting back on expenses. It has to be meaningful,\u00ab she says.<\/p>\n

When the administration turns a blind eye<\/h3>\n

It used to be that staff at University of Copenhagen could voice their concerns in the institute councils, but when a survey revealed that almost half of the participating researchers and educators experienced that they didn\u2019t have any real influence on the councils, the rector decided to close the councils.<\/p>\n

According to Ravinder Kaur the institute councils were a mock display of democracy designed to give the administration the appearance of listening to staff concerns which were in fact never acted upon.<\/p>\n

However, the associate professor still believes closing down the councils was a bad decision, because they were never replaced by a similar democratic organ.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t have academic freedom, if you\u2019re constantly worried about losing your job.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00bbThey didn\u2019t actually listen to the message many of us were trying to communicate when we participated in the survey. The point wasn\u2019t that we wanted the councils abolished, but that we wanted an actual say in matters and not just an advisory role. The administration never took that seriously,\u00ab says Ravinder Kaur.<\/p>\n

She returns to the laptop screen in front of her and repeats the passage from the University Act.<\/p>\n

If elected to the board, Ravinder Kaur will work towards ensuring co-determination, so researchers and educators feel they have a say in how the university is run.<\/p>\n

Short-term contracts undermine democracy<\/h3>\n

In order to do so, it is necessary to break with the policy of short-term contracts which is widespread among research hires.<\/p>\n

Being hired on a short-term contract means that a researcher is constantly worrying about how to secure employment in the future. According to Ravinder Kaur this has the added negative effect of deterring many researchers from speaking out against the administration.<\/p>\n

\u00bbIf you\u2019re constantly worried about finding your next job it can have an effect on your academic freedom. If you\u2019re always hired on short-term contracts, you may feel deterred from participating in the democratic organs of the university which you should.\u00ab<\/p>\n

Because you would fear upsetting the wrong people?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00bbYes, exactly. You can only hold people accountable if you have academic freedom. And you can\u2019t have academic freedom, if you\u2019re constantly worried about losing your job.\u00ab<\/p>\n

The board needs to promote equality and diversity<\/h3>\n

And that\u2019s not the only problem that rears its head when University of Copenhagen is hiring new staff, explains Ravinder Kaur.<\/p>\n

At the university, there is a gender gap when it comes to new hires, and the gap is only more pronounced the further up the ladder we get. There are more female PhD-students than there are male, but there are fewer female assistant professors than there are male, only about a third of associate professors are female, and only about a fourth of professors are female.<\/p>\n

Women are seen as the ones who get special treatment, but in reality only very few women occupy high-ranking positions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ravinder Kaur explains that people who argue that there simply aren\u2019t enough qualified female applicants are wrong. But she doesn\u2019t really want to talk about equality, but what she calls \u00bbthe equality paradox\u00ab:<\/p>\n

\u00bbWomen are seen as the ones who get special treatment, but in reality only very few women occupy high-ranking positions,\u00ab she says.<\/p>\n

What can be done about that?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00bbFor starters we can talk openly about this being a paradox.\u00ab<\/p>\n

But is that a matter for the board to discuss?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00bbYes, of course it is. Who else should do it? The board is the highest authority at the university. It is very important that they actively work towards promoting equality and diversity.\u00ab<\/p>\n

READ MORE ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY ELECTIONS at uniavisen.dk\/univalg2019<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Translated by Theis Duelund<\/em>
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Associate Professor Ravinder Kaur calls for more democracy at University of Copenhagen and is looking to take a stand against short-term contracts and what she calls the equality paradox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":96128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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":[48],"tags":[265,2621,2622,1883,273,622,2561,2617,2540,2623,939],"class_list":["post-96883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-bestyrelsen-en","tag-demokrati-en","tag-kandidat-en","tag-koensbalance-en","tag-ledelse-en","tag-navne-en","tag-ravinder-kaur-en","tag-univalg2019-en","tag-universitetsledelse-en","tag-universitetsloven-en","tag-universitetsvalg-en","expression-portrait_article"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\nRavinder Kaur: The administration does not take co-determination seriously<\/title>\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\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ravinder Kaur: The administration does not take co-determination seriously\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Associate Professor Ravinder Kaur calls for more democracy at University of Copenhagen and is looking to take a stand against short-term contracts and what she calls the equality paradox.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\/\" \/>\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=\"2019-11-19T12:00:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-11-20T08:28:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ravinderweb.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"864\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gry Bartroff Gaihede\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\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=\"Gry Bartroff Gaihede\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Gry Bartroff Gaihede\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d2b932cb3c26d685292a221680e386fe\"},\"headline\":\"Ravinder Kaur: The administration does not take co-determination seriously\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-19T12:00:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-20T08:28:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":860,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/ravinderweb.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Bestyrelsen\",\"Demokrati\",\"kandidat\",\"k\u00f8nsbalance\",\"Ledelse\",\"Navne\",\"Ravinder Kaur\",\"univalg2019\",\"universitetsledelse\",\"universitetsloven\",\"Universitetsvalg\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ravinder Kaur: The administration does not take co-determination seriously\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/ravinderweb.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-19T12:00:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-20T08:28:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d2b932cb3c26d685292a221680e386fe\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/ravinderweb.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/ravinderweb.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":864,\"caption\":\"Ravinder Kaur\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ravinder Kaur: The administration does not take co-determination seriously\"}]},{\"@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\\\/d2b932cb3c26d685292a221680e386fe\",\"name\":\"Gry Bartroff Gaihede\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/772958c7278c6a2aa225a325594d9f297ad3aecc397eb592b61049c2bf57a3f8?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/772958c7278c6a2aa225a325594d9f297ad3aecc397eb592b61049c2bf57a3f8?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/772958c7278c6a2aa225a325594d9f297ad3aecc397eb592b61049c2bf57a3f8?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gry Bartroff Gaihede\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uniavisen.dk\\\/en\\\/author\\\/gry\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ravinder Kaur: The administration does not take co-determination seriously","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\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ravinder Kaur: The administration does not take co-determination seriously","og_description":"Associate Professor Ravinder Kaur calls for more democracy at University of Copenhagen and is looking to take a stand against short-term contracts and what she calls the equality paradox.","og_url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\/","og_site_name":"University Post","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uniavis","article_published_time":"2019-11-19T12:00:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-11-20T08:28:49+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":864,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ravinderweb.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Gry Bartroff Gaihede","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Uniavisen","twitter_site":"@Uniavisen","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gry Bartroff Gaihede","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\/"},"author":{"name":"Gry Bartroff Gaihede","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#\/schema\/person\/d2b932cb3c26d685292a221680e386fe"},"headline":"Ravinder Kaur: The administration does not take co-determination seriously","datePublished":"2019-11-19T12:00:14+00:00","dateModified":"2019-11-20T08:28:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\/"},"wordCount":860,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ravinderweb.jpg","keywords":["Bestyrelsen","Demokrati","kandidat","k\u00f8nsbalance","Ledelse","Navne","Ravinder Kaur","univalg2019","universitetsledelse","universitetsloven","Universitetsvalg"],"articleSection":["Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\/","url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\/","name":"Ravinder Kaur: The administration does not take co-determination seriously","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ravinderweb.jpg","datePublished":"2019-11-19T12:00:14+00:00","dateModified":"2019-11-20T08:28:49+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/#\/schema\/person\/d2b932cb3c26d685292a221680e386fe"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ravinderweb.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ravinderweb.jpg","width":1000,"height":864,"caption":"Ravinder Kaur"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/ravinder-kaur-the-administration-does-not-take-codetermination-seriously\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ravinder Kaur: The administration does not take co-determination seriously"}]},{"@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\/d2b932cb3c26d685292a221680e386fe","name":"Gry Bartroff Gaihede","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/772958c7278c6a2aa225a325594d9f297ad3aecc397eb592b61049c2bf57a3f8?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/772958c7278c6a2aa225a325594d9f297ad3aecc397eb592b61049c2bf57a3f8?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/772958c7278c6a2aa225a325594d9f297ad3aecc397eb592b61049c2bf57a3f8?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Gry Bartroff Gaihede"},"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/author\/gry\/"}]}},"advancedCustomFields":{"expression":{"term_id":14,"name":"Portrait Article","slug":"portrait_article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":14,"taxonomy":"expression","description":"","parent":0,"count":797,"filter":"raw"},"enable_comments":true,"align_content":"alignleft","feature_color":"#813e28","layout_group":[{"acf_fc_layout":"Headline","use_post_title":true,"headline":"","style":"default","highlighted_words":"","text_size":"small"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Image","image":{"ID":96483,"id":96483,"title":"Design uden navn (2)","filename":"designudennavn2.jpg","filesize":248444,"url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/designudennavn2.jpg","link":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/ravinder-kaur-ledelsen-har-ikke-taget-vores-oenske-om-medbestemmelse-serioest\/design-uden-navn-2-3\/","alt":"","author":"71","description":"","caption":"","name":"design-uden-navn-2-3","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":96447,"date":"2019-11-12 09:06:10","modified":"2019-11-12 09:07:17","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":3000,"height":2000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/designudennavn2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/designudennavn2-480x320.jpg","medium-width":480,"medium-height":320,"medium_large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/designudennavn2-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/designudennavn2-1280x853.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":853,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/designudennavn2.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/designudennavn2.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1365,"featured-soft":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/designudennavn2-290x193.jpg","featured-soft-width":290,"featured-soft-height":193,"featured-hard":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/designudennavn2-290x180.jpg","featured-hard-width":290,"featured-hard-height":180,"narrow":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/designudennavn2-700x467.jpg","narrow-width":700,"narrow-height":467,"extended":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/designudennavn2-990x660.jpg","extended-width":990,"extended-height":660}},"style":"extended","text_placement":"metadata-below","image_link_url":"","image_link_title":"","caption_prefix":"","enable_alternative_caption":true,"alternative_caption":"Ravinder Kaur is associate professor of Modern South Asian Studies."},{"acf_fc_layout":"Standfirst","subject":"CANDIDATE FOR THE BOARD","text":"This is a story about what will follow","use_post_excerpt":true},{"acf_fc_layout":"Byline","is_author":false,"contributors":[{"use_registered_user":true,"user":{"ID":67,"user_firstname":"Rasmus","user_lastname":"Friis","nickname":"rasmus","user_nicename":"rasmus","display_name":"Rasmus Friis","user_email":"rasmus.friis@uniavisen.dk","user_url":"","user_registered":"2018-01-31 09:36:50","user_description":"","user_avatar":"<img alt='' src='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e63c8484da290a4fdf7a435d972fda1c53e6da4cc7cd9a6e440cb0f28061d48?s=96&d=identicon&r=g' srcset='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5e63c8484da290a4fdf7a435d972fda1c53e6da4cc7cd9a6e440cb0f28061d48?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>Ravinder Kaur scrolls through a document on the laptop screen in front of her pausing at a sentence she has highlighted in yellow. She reads it out aloud:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbThe board ensures the co-determination and involvement of staff and students in material decisions.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p>This particular passage is probably one of the most frequently quoted parts of the University Act, but Ravinder Kaur isn\u2019t quoting it to celebrate it. She\u2019s quoting it, because she believes the university has neglected to act in accordance with it.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We need to bolster democratic representation on every level.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u00bbWe need to bolster democratic representation on every level. Many of the decisions that have been made in recent years have been rushed, because we haven\u2019t had a proper dialogue between the administration and the people with knowledge of the core tasks,\u00ab she says.<\/p>\n<p>The people, she is referring to, are the researchers and educators at University of Copenhagen, where she herself has been employed for ten years and is currently associate professor of Modern South Asian Studies and head of the Centre of Global South-Asian Studies.<\/p>\n<p>It has been necessary to cut back on expenses at the university due to political decision making, but according to Ravinder Kaur cutbacks were executed without proper consideration.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIt\u2019s not always a question of simply cutting back on expenses. It has to be meaningful,\u00ab she says.<\/p>\n<h3>When the administration turns a blind eye<\/h3>\n<p>It used to be that staff at University of Copenhagen could voice their concerns in the institute councils, but when a survey revealed that almost half of the participating researchers and educators experienced that they didn\u2019t have any real influence on the councils, the rector decided to close the councils.<\/p>\n<p>According to Ravinder Kaur the institute councils were a mock display of democracy designed to give the administration the appearance of listening to staff concerns which were in fact never acted upon.<\/p>\n<p>However, the associate professor still believes closing down the councils was a bad decision, because they were never replaced by a similar democratic organ.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>You can\u2019t have academic freedom, if you\u2019re constantly worried about losing your job.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u00bbThey didn\u2019t actually listen to the message many of us were trying to communicate when we participated in the survey. The point wasn\u2019t that we wanted the councils abolished, but that we wanted an actual say in matters and not just an advisory role. The administration never took that seriously,\u00ab says Ravinder Kaur.<\/p>\n<p>She returns to the laptop screen in front of her and repeats the passage from the University Act.<\/p>\n<p>If elected to the board, Ravinder Kaur will work towards ensuring co-determination, so researchers and educators feel they have a say in how the university is run.<\/p>\n<h3>Short-term contracts undermine democracy<\/h3>\n<p>In order to do so, it is necessary to break with the policy of short-term contracts which is widespread among research hires.<\/p>\n<p>Being hired on a short-term contract means that a researcher is constantly worrying about how to secure employment in the future. According to Ravinder Kaur this has the added negative effect of deterring many researchers from speaking out against the administration.<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbIf you\u2019re constantly worried about finding your next job it can have an effect on your academic freedom. If you\u2019re always hired on short-term contracts, you may feel deterred from participating in the democratic organs of the university which you should.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p><em>Because you would fear upsetting the wrong people?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00bbYes, exactly. You can only hold people accountable if you have academic freedom. And you can\u2019t have academic freedom, if you\u2019re constantly worried about losing your job.\u00ab<\/p>\n<h3>The board needs to promote equality and diversity<\/h3>\n<p>And that\u2019s not the only problem that rears its head when University of Copenhagen is hiring new staff, explains Ravinder Kaur.<\/p>\n<p>At the university, there is a gender gap when it comes to new hires, and the gap is only more pronounced the further up the ladder we get. There are more female PhD-students than there are male, but there are fewer female assistant professors than there are male, only about a third of associate professors are female, and only about a fourth of professors are female.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Women are seen as the ones who get special treatment, but in reality only very few women occupy high-ranking positions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Ravinder Kaur explains that people who argue that there simply aren\u2019t enough qualified female applicants are wrong. But she doesn\u2019t really want to talk about equality, but what she calls \u00bbthe equality paradox\u00ab:<\/p>\n<p>\u00bbWomen are seen as the ones who get special treatment, but in reality only very few women occupy high-ranking positions,\u00ab she says.<\/p>\n<p><em>What can be done about that?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00bbFor starters we can talk openly about this being a paradox.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p><em>But is that a matter for the board to discuss?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00bbYes, of course it is. Who else should do it? The board is the highest authority at the university. It is very important that they actively work towards promoting equality and diversity.\u00ab<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY ELECTIONS at <a href=\"http:\/\/L\u00c6S MERE OM UNIVALGET p\u00e5 uniavisen.dk\/univalg2019.\">uniavisen.dk\/univalg2019<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Translated by Theis Duelund<\/em><\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"ArticleEnd"},{"acf_fc_layout":"Newsletter","lang_select":"Dansk","identifier":"Newsletter","headline":"Receive a weekly newsletter in your inbox","button_text":"Tilmeld nu","class":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"OtherStories","headline":"","hand_picked_posts":false,"references":false,"category":false,"theme":false,"number_of_posts":"4","style":"default"}]},"taxonomyData":{"category":[{"term_id":48,"name":"Politics","slug":"politics","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":48,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":1035,"filter":"raw"}],"post_tag":[{"term_id":265,"name":"Bestyrelsen","slug":"bestyrelsen-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":265,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":16,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":2621,"name":"Demokrati","slug":"demokrati-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2621,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":2622,"name":"kandidat","slug":"kandidat-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2622,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":1883,"name":"k\u00f8nsbalance","slug":"koensbalance-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":1883,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":273,"name":"Ledelse","slug":"ledelse-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":273,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":3,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":622,"name":"Navne","slug":"navne-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":622,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":7,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":2561,"name":"Ravinder Kaur","slug":"ravinder-kaur-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2561,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":3,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":2617,"name":"univalg2019","slug":"univalg2019-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2617,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":9,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":2540,"name":"universitetsledelse","slug":"universitetsledelse-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2540,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":8,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":2623,"name":"universitetsloven","slug":"universitetsloven-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":2623,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":1,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":939,"name":"Universitetsvalg","slug":"universitetsvalg-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":939,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":5,"filter":"raw"}],"post_format":[],"expression":[{"term_id":14,"name":"Portrait Article","slug":"portrait_article","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":14,"taxonomy":"expression","description":"","parent":0,"count":797,"filter":"raw"}],"translation_priority":[]},"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/ravinderweb.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96883","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\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96883"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96929,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96883\/revisions\/96929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uniavisen.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}