Berlin spat shows lack of help for ‘students’ facing racism

Bloomberg

When students at an elite university in Berlin charged the school with condoning racist attitudes, the administration had no formal procedures in place to deal with the spat. Even its diversity czar said it was out of her hands.
The dispute at the Hertie School — one of Germany’s top training grounds for civil
servants — was sparked by a professor characterising the toppling of statues by protesters as barbaric. The ad-hoc way the institution dealt with the controversy highlights how many universities in Europe’s largest economy don’t have mechanisms in place to address potential discrimination.
While all German employers — including universities — are required by law to have a way for staff to raise concerns about discrimination, only 58% of surveyed higher-education institutions have set up formal procedures, and only half of those have made those resources available to students, according to a recent report by the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency.
Dannyelle Thompson — who is working on a master’s degree in public policy at Hertie — says Black students like herself risk finding themselves in hostile learning environments without official safeguards. “It’s about everyday racism that you have to fight to be acknowledged as racism,” she said. “It’s tiring.”
Yet even institutions with staff dedicated to handling individual harassment cases might not have the procedures and remit in place to deal with higher-level grievances. This issue was highlighted in July, when Hertie professor Alina Mungiu-Pippidi sparked complaints from students by writing an article for a political website in which she suggested protesters toppling statues was akin to acting “as any barbarian would have done hundreds of years ago.”
“Whoever blows up a monument or ties the rope around the neck of a statue, for
whatever reason, does not advance civilisation, but relapses into old behavioral patterns which should not make humanity really proud,” she wrote. The article was republished on Hertie’s website and social-media channels.
“The term ‘barbarian’ denounces those who are campaigning as they are as uncivilised,” Hertie student
Babatunde Williams wrote in reply to the article by the professor.
In response to the student backlash, Diversity Ombudsperson Basak Cali said in emails obtained by Bloomberg that her mandate is “limited to allegations of harassment or sexual harassment involving a member of the community.” However, the university’s website says Cali should be contacted for “any concerns regarding diversity, inclusion, discrimination at the Hertie School.”