On 20 February, EUR held a Social Safety Panel for staff and students at EUR, hosted by the Diversity and Inclusion Office (D&I@EUR) and moderated by Chief Diversity Officer, Semiha Denktaş.
The panel consisted of Rector Magnificus, Rutger Engels, HR director, Lieke Skidmore, University Council President, Hans van den Berg, confidential counsellor Nine van Gent-van der Feltz, and the initiator of student initiative, Erasmus School of Colour, Merel Dap.
At multiple points during the event, the panel and audience were shown several scenes depicted by the Dutch Actors Society. These included scenes concerning leaders displaying offensive behaviour, gossiping colleagues, provocative jokes/remarks, and sexual misconduct between supervisors and researchers. This was followed by lively interactive discussion between panel and audience.
Throughout, EUR’s confidentiality counsellors and ombudsperson were present and reiterated the importance of open discussion and an institutional response. Confidential Counsellor, Edith Wijnen outlined ‘when there is a unsafe situation, the response best needs to happen early in the process.”
The audience saw this individual route also requiring a collective responsibility to call out misconduct and unsafe practices, People spoke up and said the EUR community “should bear the potential cost of speaking up together”, through collective individual action and also through leadership that provides the framework for safe working environment. Rector Magnificus, Rutger Engels indicated “I am not going to walk away from this’.
This call for leadership also came with a reminder from ISS Dean, Inge Hutter for leaders at EUR, to “be aware of your position of power and what it does or means to others around you.” This can be expressed through greater awareness when interacting with students, staff and researchers.
In closing, all panel members sounded the call for EUR “to stand up and reach out, as a community”, while also recognizing this event as an important part of the continuing efforts to ensure that the EUR community is a safe place for all individuals.
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