For an ETH that leaves no one feeling excluded

Today, Wednesday, external page @speakupeth published a post on Instagram complaining about a public statement against the advancement of women. This marks the kickoff for the #speakupETH campaign by the VSETH student association and the AVETH association of non-faculty scientific staff. Two weeks ago, the two associations called on their members to submit testimonials that deal with discrimination or other disadvantages at ETH. In this interview, Stella Harper and Kolja Frahm from VSETH’s university politics team explain the rationale behind this campaign and tell us what their goals are.

ETH Zurich: What is speakupETH?

Stella Harper: speakupETH is a platform where students can share their experiences at ETH with us and the community. It’s about experiences of discrimination, racism, sexism, homophobic remarks – in other words, situations in which there was a lack of respect.

Kolja Frahm: We don’t want speakupETH to hound anyone, nor do we want to discredit certain positions at ETH or VSETH. Rather, we want to raise ETH members’ awareness of things that can hurt people, and also let them see that certain actions require the other person’s consent. Overall, we want to create a more inclusive environment so that everyone feels comfortable at ETH and no one is discriminated against.

Stella: It’s also important for us to be able to respond to stories and offer support to students who have had negative experiences.

Is it possible to define in general terms what should be considered discriminatory? What are your criteria for publishing submissions?

Kolja: Rather than publishing everything, we decide whether the testimonial fits into the context of ETH, or more specifically the 2019 howsETHgoing survey. This showed that around one in ten ETH students has experienced discrimination or another form of misconduct.

Stella: We make a point of giving every story we receive equal treatment. Of course, that involves a lot of internal discussions. We’ve defined a precise process for how we handle submissions; multiple members always go over each testimonial. Any that are somewhat critical, and that leave us asking questions ourselves, we discuss in our weekly meetings. Our goal is not to prevent discussions by not posting certain things. But we handle all submissions carefully – and also consider which discussions we don’t want to start.

Can you give us an example?

Kolja: For example, if someone is accused by name, we don’t publish the full details. However, we do take a close look at the case and may also contact the person named, subject to the consent of the testimonial’s author. But we would never mention them by name.

Stella: The same goes for groups. We cross out anything that identifies certain people or groups. This isn’t about shaming anyone.

In other words, you’re more concerned with the mechanisms and structures?

Stella: Absolutely. Another of our criteria for deciding whether or not to publish is whether the experience described took place in an ETH context. We realise we’re dealing with issues that don’t just come up at ETH, but are also of importance to society as a whole. But our efforts are necessarily limited to ETH, since it’s only here that we can offer support to those affected.

How many submissions have you received to date?

Kolja: We announced the project two weeks ago in the newsletters and social media channels of VSETH, AVETH and the departmental student associations, and we also spread the message via WhatsApp groups. Since then, we’ve already received 30 testimonials, which goes to show that this really is a burning issue.

Stella: Many people submitting a testimonial provide their contact information. In these cases, our first step is always to make contact, offer our support, and engage in conversation with them. We also discuss with them how we prepare the testimonials for publication.

What issues do the first submissions address? Do they reflect the results of the howsETHgoing survey?

Stella: The testimonials we’ve received so far haven’t sprung any surprises on us. They raised the issues of abuse of power in the academic environment, sexist discriminatory comments, and sexism in behaviour between men and women at ETH.

Kolja: There were also other issues like homophobia. And reports of foreign students who feel excluded because their Swiss peers are keeping to themselves. These are all points on which ETH doesn’t score particularly well in our survey either. We’re pleased that we’ve also already received some positive feedback emphasising how much has already been done to improve things at ETH in recent years.

Stella: What we weren’t expecting was for the submissions to be so long. No one has sent us a mere one-line description of what happened. Many of the stories are also full of emotion, with people being very open and honest.

What do you do when you learn of serious incidents?

Stella: I’m happy to say that no criminal incidents have been reported so far. In some cases, we’ve immediately reached out to the contact points at ETH. speakupETH is also about raising the profile of these contact points.

And how do you deal with these reports on a personal level?

Stella: At EPFL, students launched a similar campaign more than six months ago. They advised us to arrange psychological support for ourselves, and we’re definitely going to do that, because it is indeed very important for us. We noticed right from the first moment how the incoming messages were weighing on our mood. So we’re very grateful that our entire group will soon be receiving supervision.

The first post was published today. What’s next?

Kolja: We plan to publish several testimonials each week. To link what we’re doing with the howsETHgoing survey, each week we’ll also be publishing a post that draws on the survey’s final report – either a fact from it or one of the measures discussed there – to show that action is really being taken.

Stella: We want to wait until the start of the semester in September before we launch the actual campaign, which is also when the Respect campaign will restart. We’ve already come up with lots of ideas. There’ll be posters and events, and interactions on Instagram, too. We’ll also be able to engage in a dialogue with any followers we have. For example, in addition to the testimonials, we want to provide tips on how each of us can contribute, and we want to have videos presenting the contact points.

Have you already defined an end date for the project?

Stella: The larger campaign should certainly run until the end of the autumn semester. We also want to explore ways we can connect speakupETH with other initiatives at ETH. Ultimately, how long the campaign lasts will also depend on how long people keep sending us testimonials. Of course, we have to analyse the submissions as well. If, for example, we see that lots of the testimonials are about sexism, we’ll have to see how we can work with ETH management to define appropriate measures. Then the project would end with a kind of transition into the next step.

What connection do you see to the dialogue about culture that’s taking place as part of rETHink?

Stella: Every environment and every grouping has a culture, and that culture must be redefined again and again because times change. We’re trying to play a part in this. Some things weren’t even an issue 50 years ago, but they are now. When people change their behaviour, that in itself will change the culture at ETH, too. Often these negative experiences don’t result from an act of bad faith, but rather from a lack of reflection on how other people perceive a situation.

Kolja: We want to use the testimonials to show what direction we should be going in at ETH: we want to make ETH a more inclusive place.

Looking at the five values that rETHink discusses – responsibility, openness, team spirit, diversity and excellence – how do you weight them for speakupETH?

Kolja: I’d say excellence relates more to the study environment and isn’t so much a value that shapes collaboration. But openness, diversity and responsibility are clearly values that play into the project, and ultimately what we’re trying to do is create an ETH team spirit. For an ETH that leaves no one feeling excluded.

Stella: When it comes to excellence, everyone who knows me knows I’m allergic to that word (laughs). But that’s just my personal opinion. I would put openness first, because that’s what our project is about at the moment: speaking openly with each other.