Diversity

Dear students, dear colleagues, dear guests,

I am delighted to welcome you today to the second Diversity Day at our university.

A varied programme awaits us, with music acts, keynotes on diversity at TU Braunschweig and in our society, and - to do justice to our focus topic this year - queerness and its dimensions. In the Altgebäude you will have the opportunity to attend workshops on allyship, the basics of diversity and queerness.

We hope that today University Square will become a space for shared experiences and exchange of perspectives regarding the topics of diversity and anti-discrimination. 24 initiatives from TU Braunschweig as well as local groups invite you to come and talk and find out about different focal points of their work. The Oasis on University Square will become a Queer Oasis for Diversity Day. Various queer groups and initiatives have thus created a place for networking and exchange.

As a university, we are at the beginning of an exciting process: 

Since July 2021, TU Braunschweig has been pursuing the strategic approach of holistic development with the aim of achieving excellent standards as an overall university. With the University Development Concept 2030, we have decided to understand diversity as a strategic cross-sectional topic in our development, which means that we will consistently anchor the topic of diversity strategically. The focus is on all dimensions of diversity and their overlaps. It is important to reflect the diversity of our society at the university, to ensure equal opportunities and to consistently integrate diversity aspects in the performance dimensions of research, teaching & learning, transfer and governance & administration.

In recent years, we have developed a great deal in terms of structure and content, and on this basis, the Executive Board launched the development of a diversity strategy last week. The staff unit Strategic University Development will, under the managment of Anouk Almstedt, our Diversity Policies Officer, coordinate and accompany the process with the support of the Innovation Team of the Projekthaus. The aim of the strategy process is to provide us with guidelines for diversity-conscious university development based on our University Development Concept 2030 and existing structures, which we can use to orient and keep ourselves in check in the coming years. This is a decisive and strategically necessary step for our university on the way to valuing diversity and equal opportunities.

With events like the Diversity Day, we would like to inform you as visitors and take you along in the process of diversity-conscious university development. We would like to get to know your perspectives and exchange ideas with you. At the Strategic University Development booth, you will gain a deeper insight and be able to contribute your perspective. We not only look forward to your ideas, we actually depend on them so that we can develop a jointly supported strategy.

In order to bring the many aspects and facets of diversity more into focus for our university, we have been setting a focus topic around diversity for the past two years.

This year, the TU Braunschweig has set the focus queer@TU. Since I have been President of TU Braunschweig, I have already had the pleasure of raising the rainbow flag twice together with representatives of queer student groups. I am particularly pleased that this year, for the first time, the newly founded LGBTIAQ*Staff Network is also represented and welcome Jana Szeimies from the Diversity Office, Kenny Bundschuh, Marian Baden and Johannes Höing to hoist the rainbow flag.

We must not take for granted the right to self-determination and the diversity in our society that we celebrate today. We must stand up for them and value them every day.

The relevance becomes particularly clear when we look at this issue in the current global context. Take a look at the US, the country that has been a pioneer and role model for us on these issues for decades. In the state of Florida, and a few days ago in Texas, laws were passed that prohibit diversity, equity and inclusion programmes and structures at public universities. People who work on these issues at universities have to leave their positions within 6 months and are assigned other tasks. Populist-led debates that label social justice and diversity movements as indoctrination or a so-called "woke-ideology", which means placing hyper-sensitive and unwarranted attention on anti-racism and social justice, deny the relevance of even scientifically sound findings on structural inequality and discrimination.

In Germany, too, terms like ‘gender mania’ or ‘early sexualisation’ are shifting the discourse around gender and sexual diversity. Even on Instagram posts about today's Diversity Day with the raising of the rainbow flag at our university, there are positive comments as well as those that call this ‘ideology’ and ‘indoctrination’. As a university, we have to take responsibility and stand up for an open, argumentative, inclusive and just society.

In the University Development Concept 2030, we set ourselves the goal: "We create an environment in which everyone studies and works together free of discrimination."  The Focus 2023: queer@TU is a joint project of the Diversity Office, the Equal Opportunities Office, and myself, with the aim of contributing to queer-friendliness at our university and making it a safe and discrimination-free place for all people. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Diversity Office for implementing Focus 2023 in cooperation with numerous institutions at TU Braunschweig. If you have an idea for improving working and studying conditions for queer people in your area of work, the Diversity Office will be happy to advise you. In particular, the Communication and Press Service supports the focus year with regular contributions on the topic of queerness and thus makes a decisive contribution to the visibility and communication of knowledge.

The Diversity Office has once again labelled all-gender toilets for today, drawing attention to the fact that, despite the legal recognition that there are more than two genders, public toilets are mostly still segregated by two genders. For intersex, trans* and non-binary people and people who do not outwardly conform to the stereotypical image of men or women, toilets - as a necessary space in everyday study and work - are often not safe places. In addition to direct hostility or expulsion, questions such as "Are you in the right place?" can also be unpleasant and hurtful without negative intent. The installation of gender-neutral toilets contributes to the reduction of discrimination and thus to the goal of equality for all genders. As part of Focus 2023: queer@TU, the Equal Opportunities Office will draft a concept for the installation of all-gender toilets to create new shelters while keeping existing shelters for women.

At the booth of the Diversity Office (just behind the Queer Oasis), members of the LGBTIAQ* student as well as staff network will be present. There you will find a contact point to get into conversation and to network with other queer people at the TU Braunschweig.

I will now hand over to Jana Szeimies, who will give us a closer look at the work of the Diversity Office and the Focus 2023: queer@TU.

Dear TU people and especially dear Queers,

I am happy to say a few words today about the focus year and my work.

My name is Jana Szeimies, my pronouns are she/her. I work as an Officer at the Equal Opportunity Office and I oversee the Focus 2023: queer@TU.

As part of the queer community, I will allow myself a few critical words today, because our university is not yet where it could be. People are still addressed with the wrong pronouns, students have to endure homophobic remarks from lecturers and there are no safe toilets for parts of the TU community. And the recent comments under the Instagram posts for Diversity Day again make clear that queers and allies are still exposed to hate and violence.

These are issues we need to address and we need to do it together, because being able to study, work, learn and live in a community that is tolerant and safe is something we all benefit from.

I am very pleased that the first step towards implementing "Toilets for All" is being taken. In the Diversity Office, our task is to do anti-discrimination work. I don't do this alone, but with a great team of student employees. Thank you, Kenny, Vimbai, Delia and Burcu, for your commitment and expertise, which enrich our work so much!

With the focus 2023: queer@TU, we inform and educate. With exhibitions, lectures, Instagram posts and, above all, projects with other institutions. Among other things, we have brought the exhibition "Sexualitäten und Geschlechter im Spiegel" to Braunschweig, researched topics for monthly social media posts, were at the TUmorrow Days, educated about queer coding and the construction of gender-specific clothing and organised a lecture with Antek Engel for the upcoming winter semester. These are just a few examples, you can find more projects and cooperations on our website and our Instagram channel diversity.tubraunschweig. At this point, I would also like to thank all cooperation partners!

Another important part of my work is counselling students who experience discrimination here at TU Braunschweig or are confronted with hurdles in their studies. Diversity mentoring, among other things, can provide concrete support here. As you have already heard, you can also become part of the LGBTIAQ* student network or join our LGBTIAQ* staff network as an employee.

I don't want to talk too long, so I'll end with an appeal:
Dear students, get in touch if you have experienced discrimination and are in need for support, and dear employees, get in touch with project ideas for the focus 2023: queer@TU, in order to jointly create visibility for queer lifestyles and justice for all.

As part of the LGBTIAQ* staff network, I am now pleased to hand over to Kenny Bundschuh, Marian Baden and Johannes Höing and hope that we celebrate our queers today and that our allies are and remain informed and engaged!

Thank you very much!

Hello everyone,

On behalf of the Autonomous Women's and Lesbians' Department, the LGBTIAQ*@TU student network and the LGBTIAQ*@TU staff network, we are delighted to welcome you all to the second Diversity Day at Braunschweig University of Technology. It is great that we can raise the rainbow flags together here on Forum Square again this year. The fact that we can celebrate diversity here and now at and with the TU Braunschweig is thanks to courageous people who have been fighting for the rights of queer people for decades. But the fight is not over yet, there is still a lot we can do individually and as a collective.

Some of you may know that there still are regular anti-queer attacks at Pride Parades (CSDs). Last year at the CSD Münster, Malte, a trans* man, was attacked while standing in solidarity with other queer people who were being subjected to queer-hostile discrimination by outsiders. He was seriously injured and subsequently died from these injuries. This year, too, there were violent clashes at the CSD Hanover, for example, in which queer people were insulted, robbed and physically injured. These attacks are not only shocking, but also a painful reminder that the fight for equality and acceptance is far from over.

The current developments in politics are particularly worrying. The AfD is now celebrating a National Pride Month to counter the queer Pride Month. In the US, we see a regression in terms of queer people's rights. Anti-drag and anti-trans* laws are being passed that restrict and discriminate against our siblings. In Europe, we also have to deal with strongly nationalist and anti-queer governments, be it in Hungary, Poland, Italy, or Turkey. The increasing attacks on the LGBTIAQ+ community are a symptom of a very worrying global development that we must work together to counter. Therefore, it is all the more important that we stand here today and make our presence felt, together as members of a big educational institution - and that we do not stop standing up for ourselves and our rights, so that we are truly accepted and equal in all aspects in the future.

At this point, we would like to emphasise the relevance of diverse representation. Less considered and marginalised identities such as bisexuality, asexuality, polyamory or trans*-identity need to be thought about and taken into account in order to create a truly inclusive society. In addition, it is important that we realise that the struggles for equality and acceptance are not the same for all people. People who are multiply marginalised, such as queer people with a history of migration or queer people with disability(ies), face even greater challenges. We need to advocate for all specific needs and ensure that all these voices are heard. Full stop! There is no need for a justification for this, because the simple reason is that human rights must be equally respected for all people in all contexts, as it is clearly written in our constitution  - even if this is not yet the case in our social, lived reality.

It is important to show how colourful and diverse we are. By accepting ourselves in our diversity and being proud of our identities, we can act as role models for younger generations. A free development of personality and one's own identity can only be authentically exemplified to children and young people if their role models are also authentic themselves. Every person should therefore have the freedom to be themselves without fear of rejection or discrimination.

But how can we, the TU Braunschweig, make queer people feel safer and more comfortable? Group-focused enmity has no place at TU Braunschweig. It is important that we make it clear that hostility against queer people is not an opinion but an act of discrimination. We all help shape our university and can take a stand every day to create a university that is characterised by diversity and mutual recognition. To achieve these goals, it is crucial that we connect and promote allyship. At the TU, there are already various offers and networks that allow us to get involved and get to know other queer people. This includes, for example, the network for queer students. A wish from last year has come true in the meantime: A few months ago, a network for queer employees at the TU BS was established! This shows: more and more members of the TU want to support each other and stand up for a diverse university culture that explicitly values diversity and makes it visible!

Finally, we would like to mention some more concrete ideas and suggestions that we can all implement in our everyday lives to make our university more inclusive:  We can all pay attention to our language: What words do we use and in what way? Who do we invite to meetings and conferences? Whose literature do we recommend in our seminars and lectures or cite in our articles or theses? In addition, as an institution, we should advocate for unisex or FLINTA* toilets in our building design to provide a safe environment for people with different gender identities. We are pleased that this issue is currently being addressed. Likewise, we, the TU, should advocate that a name change is more easily possible with authorities such as the NLBV. Furthermore, we would like to see training and education on diversity and sensitivity offered to all TU employees to create awareness of the needs and challenges of queer people.

Let's continue to stand together for a diverse and inclusive society and lead by example as members of the TU. Every person here today can make an important and valuable contribution to making our university a place where all people can live freely and without discrimination! I am now looking forward to hoisting the rainbow flags together with Prof. Ittel and Jana Szeimies.