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University of Basel Launches Campaign Against Sexual Harassment
The University of Basel is legally obliged to protect its members from sexual harassment. Assault will not be tolerated – that’s the primary message of the current campaign, which is aimed at students and employees of both sexes. The awareness campaign will provide information, offer options for dealing with sexual harassment, and draw attention to existing support measures.
27 March 2017
Sexual harassment is not a big problem at the University of Basel; however, the University is legally obliged to protect its members. In September 2015, the Regulations on protection against sexual harassment at work and in studies at the University of Basel were thus fundamentally reworked and improved. In addition, regular, targeted prevention and awareness work offers the most effective protection against cases of sexual harassment.
With this in mind, the University of Basel has decided to launch a campaign to highlight that sexual harassment will not be tolerated – either between students, lecturers and students, or coworkers. The term sexual harassment refers to any kind of behavior with sexual connotations that is unwanted by one of the people involved and is demeaning to that person.
“Who comes too close, goes too far”: that is the campaign’s motto as devised and implemented by the University of Bern and University of Teacher Education Bern over the past year, and which is now being taken up by the University of Basel. For a week, posters were put up displaying double-entendres. One stated, “We should work more closely together”, and showed naked people in the background. To begin with, neither the organization behind the campaign nor its aims were revealed.Who comes too close, goes too far”: that is the campaign’s motto as devised and implemented by the University of Bern and University of Teacher Education Bern over the past year, and which is now being taken up by the University of Basel. For a week, posters were put up displaying double-entendres. One stated, “We should work more closely together”, and showed naked people in the background. To begin with, neither the organization behind the campaign nor its aims were revealed.
After the first week, the posters were changed to show clearly who was behind it and what it was hoping to achieve. “It is important for people to know that victims of sexual harassment have access to confidential, professional support whenever they need it; for example, from the University of Basel’s investigator,” explains Andrea Schenker-Wicki, President of the University of Basel.
“The University of Basel does not tolerate any form of sexual harassment. It is using the campaign to encourage university members to make an active contribution to a respectful working environment.”
The campaign is not a reaction from the University of Basel to worrying cases of sexual harassment. It sees the campaign as part of its duty to offer staff and students an optimal working and learning environment and to protect them from assaults on their integrity.
By adopting the campaign from its counterparts in Bern, the University of Basel is leveraging a format that has already proven successful at Swiss universities.
In the third week, a new section will be added to the campaign, which will be on display at various University of Basel locations until Easter 2017.
Further information
Professor Hedwig J. Kaiser, Vice President for Education, University of Basel, Tel. +41 61 207 27 36, Email: vizerektorin@unibas.ch
