Annual Diversity Day 2018

The CGD has initiated the annual Diversity Day for the whole UM community on international women’s day (March 8). The idea is that this becomes a yearly recurrent event, to inspire and implement the UM’s gender and diversity policies. The CGD collaborated with the UM Diversity Officer, Constance Sommerey, and the UM student organization FEM.
The morning session was organised by the UM student group Feminists of Maastricht in collaboration with Dionyx and Consent Matters Maastricht. It dealt with a topic close to  students’ hearts and every day experiences which has hardly been discussed so far within the UM context, i.e. Sexual Harassment and the Meaning of Consent at UM. Students  acted out short vignettes of potentially transgressive situations to inspire discussion with the audience about the meaning of consent in such situations, to provide input for  UM’s Code of Conduct.  The afternoon session deliberately moved  beyond the conventional focus on gender (in-)equality, to showcase how the often overlooked diversity category of age intersects with gender, ethnicity, etc. in the daily experiences of staff and students at our university. The afternoon session was devoted to Taking Steps Towards an Age-Friendly University and deals with ageism in the university, focusing on two age groups in our community, i.e.  25-35 year-old and 55+ employees and students. Aagje Swinnen gave  a presentation on debunking ageist myths and Christine O’Kelly (Dublin City University)  introduced the International Network of Age-friendly Universities and the 10 principles of an Age-Friendly University on which the network is based. Their presentations were followed by a panel discussion with representatives of the age groups mentioned, plus  Antoon Vugts of the HRM department. The panel addressed age-related career plans and obstacles, and ways in which the UM can reduce such obstacles to help fulfil ambitions of students and staff. In conclusion of the afternoon  session, Rector Rianne Letschert signed The Declaration of the 10 Principles of an Age Friendly University, which will turn the UM into the first continental European university to join the International Network of Age-Friendly Universities.