Diverse and Equal – continuation of the “Culture of Respect” campaign

Diverse and Equal

Campaign coordinators:
Ewa Kiszka, MA, Head of Internationalization Office
Jacek Kaczmarek, MD, PhD, International Alumni Relations Officer

The daily clinical, teaching, research and administrative work of the staff and students of the Medical University of Gdańsk is based on knowledge and skills and requires their continuous development. An essential element of the competence of every member of the academic community, and much more broadly – the foundation of social life and all human activity in any community – is also the right attitude towards others, based on respect, kindness, trust and a practiced belief in the equality of all in their dignity and rights. On such grounds, fruitful cooperation develops in a climate of mutual acceptance and security.
The above, as well as the internal needs of the GUMed academic community and the events and changes observed in the public space both in our country and abroad, prompted us to launch the educational and informational campaign “Culture of Respect” in October 2020. As respect in interpersonal relations, equal treatment, kindness and trust are essential anytime and anywhere, the completion of this campaign in October 2021 only marked the formal closing of the first phase of our activities promoting key values and attitudes in our community.

The mission of academia (universities) is not only to educate and train competent and effective professionals or creative and inquisitive researchers, but also to foster and reinforce attitudes and behaviours based on the fundamental values – respect, equality, truth and justice.

The academia should replace stereotypes and prejudices with knowledge, awareness and sensitivity, develop humans’ intercultural competences, and manage diversity in a purposeful and systemic manner. It is essential to acknowledge the significance of these tasks, elaborate framework for their implementation (documents, e.g.. codes of ethics, chapters in institutional strategy and mission statements, gender equality plans, etc.), and then make them real through education, motivation, and institutional communication.

In the academic year 2022/2023, these activities will continue, and the value we want to focus on will be equality. Equality, which is not utopian and inherently unattainable in the eternally and forever varying personal characteristics of different people, but equality in social life, in dignity and rights, in access to education and work, and in compensation for the work done, in the realization of civil liberties. Equality of treatment regardless of gender, worldview, social and financial status, sexual orientation or ethnicity. Equality, which we are able, and therefore also obliged to create, promote and protect. We want to approach the subject with academic depth and accuracy as well as maximum objectivity, recognizing the multiple aspects of equality and the consequences of its deficit. The motto of this phase of the campaign will be “Diverse and Equal.”

DIVERSE AND EQUAL – JOINT CAMPAIGN OF THE FAHRENHEIT UNIVERSITIES SUPPORTED BY THE LOCAL AND REGIONAL AUTHORITIES

It is with great satisfaction and joy that we undertake these new activities together with the Marshal’s Office of the Pomeranian Voivodeship, which was our key partner already in the first stage of the Culture of Respect campaign. Plans and activities of the Marshal’s Office for a long time have been aimed at shaping the functioning of local government institutions and life in the Pomeranian region so that the postulates of equality and the rule of law are implemented in everyday practice. UMWP has the knowledge, experience and training opportunities that will not only enable the implementation of our intentions in a wider regional context, but will also facilitate the achievement of specific and lasting effects of this stage of the campaign.

The aim of the Campaign is to increase knowledge about many aspects of equality and equal treatment, to stimulate individual and collective reflection on this subject, with a strong voice of students and experts from both the MUG community and outside.

Taking into account the similarities of problems and opportunities in the academic communities of various universities, the same need to shape the best possible interpersonal relations and attitudes based on universal values, the potential and social impact of the University of Gdańsk (UG) and Gdańsk University of Technology (GUT), as well as the very well developing, multidimensional cooperation between the MUG, UG and GUT, rectors of these three universities, prof. Marcin Gruchała, prof. Piotr Stepnowski and prof. Krzysztof Wilde, together with prof. Adriana Zaleska-Medyńska, head of Daniel Fahrenheit Memorial Association of Universities in Gdańsk (FarU), decided to jointly implement equality activities. Such a decision not only extends the impact of educational and information activities concerning respect and equality on the academic community, which includes a total of over 43,600 students and several thousand employees, but also creates an excellent opportunity for a reliable and broad approach to the subject, using the competence of experts in various fields of knowledge and active participation of a large and diverse community of students. In this project, high-level representatives of the FarU university will be: prof. Ewa Łojkowska – chairwoman of the UG Social Responsibility Committee, prof. Janusz Rachoń – spokesman for the rights and academic values of GUT and prof. Agnieszka Zimmermann – vice-rector for the quality of education, Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Ethics and Good Academic Practices of the MUG.
The new stage of the Culture of Respect campaign, devoted to the issue of equality and equal treatment, will also be implemented in cooperation with the authorities of the City of Gdańsk – our city based on the pillars of freedom, solidarity, equality and openness. There is a clear convergence of the intentions and synergy of the “Diverse and Equal” campaign with the City’s policy and activities, as Gdańsk is the first city in Poland to develop and adopt the Model for Equal Treatment in 2018 and to establish Gdańsk Center for Equal Treatment, which monitors events and situations of discrimination or unequal treatment, undertakes interventions and conducts educational activities. The city of Gdańsk is implementing a much-needed campaign “Gdańsk – a city of equality”. Gdańsk wants to be a city for everyone, a city of equal treatment, where there is no acceptance of hate speech, hate and discrimination. There are also organizations in Gdańsk (e.g. WAGA Association, Tolerado) that support people experiencing discrimination and violence motivated by prejudice and promote equal treatment.

CAMPAIGN ACTIVITIES

As part of the new stage of the Culture of Respect campaign, the following activities are planned: training in creating conditions conducive to equality and preparing an institutional equality policy, a series of expert articles in “Gazeta MUG” and other media of FarU partner universities, webinars, interviews, surveys among employees and students universities, thematic events, discussion panels (students and experts), a conference on good practices used at Polish universities, organization of the Diversity Day. Participation and cooperation of academic teachers, students and administration employees in the campaign will be crucial. They are the conditions for effective building and strengthening of culture respect and equality at the University as a whole, in every aspect of its activity.

The implementation of the pro-equality activities will start in January 2023, and will be preceded by trainings for the coordinating team and representatives of the FarU university authorities in November and December.

We will inform the academic community of GUMed about the details of the campaign, type and dates of individual activities via a specially prepared website (MUG subpages), in mailings and in the University’s social media. This information will also be available in the UG, GUT and FarU media.

We count on your interest in the subject of equality as well as support and commitment to activities aimed at creating better conditions to prevent unequal treatment and the best possible relations between all members of the academic community of FarU.

We invite you to follow the campaign and participate in it.

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