Field of Action 2: Continuation of the Cultural Change

Our vision

At RWTH we unrestrictedly respect all humans and deal with one another with unreserved appreciation and acknowledgement. Mutual respect is the self-evident basis of our relationships and a lived normality. We encourage and enable all university members to develop to the best of their potential in an organizational culture that is free of discrimination.

Target groups

Students | Academic staff as well as technical and administrative employees | Executives in science and ZHV | University management

Status Quo

Equal opportunities and protection against discrimination are in the guidelines and strategy papers of RWTH and are promoted or already practiced through numerous offerings. Even beyond the legally prescribed framework, it is a central concern of the university to counteract all dimensions of discrimination and to foster cultural change. Amongst other things, the statement against racism and discrimination and the voluntary extension of the responsibility of the AGG Complaints Office to include students, document this. Furthermore, it becomes apparent in the signing of the Diversity Charter as well as the Common Guidelines on Equal Opportunities (in cooperation with the University of Cologne, the Cologne University of Technology, FH Aachen, the DLR and the Jülich Research Center), and the values of RWTH. For its activities in the area of equal opportunities, the university has regularly received the predicate TOTAL E-QUALITY.

Many students show remarkable commitment to issues such as equality, anti-discrimination and anti-racism in student contexts. In addition, they effectively contribute their perspective to wider committees such as the forumDIVERSITY, the task force inclusion as well as the Senate and its commissions.

At RWTH, teams conducting research often have a very international composition. Within the framework of the Gender & Diversity Consulting, research associations receive structured advice on the implementation of gender and diversity in their funding proposals. Several teaching and research areas at RWTH have a gender and/or diversity denomination (teaching and research areas Gender and Diversity in Engineering, Technology and Diversity, and Neuropsychological Gender Research), which contribute decidedly to an enlightened and reflected approach to diversity in both research and teaching. Additionally, there are other research institutions which have aspects of diversity as one of their main research foci.

Need for action

Despite all activities and positive developments: Especially through the cooperation in the equal treatment and nondiscrimination round table, we know that our university with its more than 47,000 students and almost 11,000 employees is not free from everyday racism, discrimination, unfair behavior, mobbing or sexual harassment. This becomes evident by anonymous reports from those affected, which we know from various counseling contexts (cf. Advising Structures and Diversity Network). Additionally, we can assume that not all incidents find their way to consulting structures and thus will not disclose.

It therefore remains both a challenge and the declared goal to communicate even more specifically internally and externally which values RWTH stands for in the context of equality. The guiding principle for action here is, in particular, respectful treatment of innovative, diverse perspectives and the resulting effects for sustainable cultural change. There must be consensus that gross violations of values such as fairness, equal treatment and appreciation will result in consequent action.

Existing support structures must be bundled even more consistently and made more visible to ensure that individuals affected by inappropriate behavior can contact university-internal counseling offices directly themselves or, if necessary, receive a reference to them by third parties.

The desire to establish a culture of appreciation, looking and listening, makes it essential to recognize and address open and subliminal tendencies of discrimination, racism, exclusion, mobbing or sexual harassment at an early stage and to take decisive action against them. Further measures are necessary to specifically sensitize and empower all people at RWTH to commit themselves to equal opportunities.

Although there has been an overall positive development in recent years, there is still resistance to diversity offers or measures. We must overcome these by expanding information and awareness-raising formats, because joint action also requires a shared understanding of diversity and openness to the goals of diversity management.

Future activities

• Creation of a diversity codex for the RWTH
• Review of the possibilities of sanctions in all cases of abuse, discrimination and mobbing as well as inclusion of the possibilities of sanctions in the diversity code
• Discussion of the conceptual and financial possibilities to introduce diversity multipliers for faculties, ZHV such as central institutions of the RWTH as well as conceptual harmonization with comparable initiatives, e.g. in the UGM and in the area of sustainability.
• Expansion of the visibility of diversity and discrimination categories as a cross-sectional task
• Training opportunities for ombudsperson for teaching and doctoral studies, who are available to students and doctoral candidates as the first point of contact in the event of discrimination
• Comprehensive creation of target group-specific offers, for example in the form of anti-bias trainings (offers for sensitization with regard to the awareness of one's own prejudices, as they are already made selectively by IGaD, the Equal Opportunity Office, the Center for Professional Leadership and in the context of ENHANCE), for the reflection of patterns of thought and action.
• Expansion of diversity-sensitive offers for employees in the ZHV
• Consistent strategic sensitization of managers in the context of explicitly recommended offers
• Setting up an awareness campaign on social media or online formats to increase diversity visibility and highlight the benefits of cultural change
• Increasing the attractiveness of diversity content by explaining and, if necessary, translating terms into language that can be understood by everyone, choosing catchier titles, e.g., for events
• Creation of a guideline with suggestions for supporting people who want to mediate in (verbal) attack and conflict situations
• Expansion of the RWTH diversity portal