On June 16, the newly elected faculty representatives of the Gender Equality Officer and their deputies met for the first time at an official meeting. The rector of our university, Prof. Prommer, welcomed the women to their new positions and emphasized the great importance of a university culture characterized by equal opportunities. The Gender equality officer, Dr. Jander, praised the great commitment of the previous faculty representatives and bid farewell to her colleagues who were stepping down from office.

Thanks to a change in the constitution at the beginning of the year, this spring, for the first time, a substitute representative was elected in addition to the faculty representative in all faculties at our university. The efforts of the past months have paid off. Eighteen colleagues will be committed to equality work in the faculties in the future.

“The team of gender equality officers at our university has never been this large,” says Dr. Jander happily. To facilitate the transition into the new office and communicate key issues, she organized various training courses in close cooperation with, among others, the Rostock counseling center against sexual violence of the Stark.Machen e.V. association and the DHV-Deutscher Hochschulverband (German University Association).

The new gender equality team has many tasks ahead of it. For example, it accompanies every procedure for filling professorships and advises and supports colleagues and students on gender equality issues.

A key project for the coming months is a university survey on the topics of sexual discrimination, harassment and violence, abuse of power, and bullying. This is currently being prepared by Dr. Jander and her colleague Dr. Uta Ziegler. The survey will be aimed at all students and employees of the university (with the exception of the University Medical Center, where a separate survey will be conducted in the spring). It will start in November 2025 and will be accompanied by events designed to provide information and raise awareness on these issues.