Sexual Harrassment and Discrimination

Dealing with Discrimination, Harassment, and Sexual Harassment at FAU

Your FAU contact at the Office of Equality and Diversity is Harriet Ziegler.

The women’s representatives of your faculty are also available for initial and referral counselling.

In case of sexual harassment and bullying, you can call the Women’s Emergency Hotline in Erlangen or Nuremberg, regardless of your gender.

The Guidelines on preventing and dealing with cases of discrimination, harassment and sexual harassment at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen (UKER) came into effect on 1 June 2021.

These guidelines are an important contribution towards ensuring equal treatment and promoting a culture based on treating others with respect, where each and every individual is valued and ignoring discrimination is not tolerated. They ensure that cases of discrimination, harassment and sexual harassment are dealt with transparently at FAU and UKER, provide information on the rights and obligations of all parties, provide details of which initial points of contact and counselling services are available for those affected and stipulate a structured procedure for submitting official complaints. They also set out a catalogue of preventative measures and sanctions.

The guidelines are based on the General Equal Treatment Act (Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz, AGG). However, as this only applies to members of staff at FAU and UKER, the guidelines specifically include all students and external parties (who are associated with either FAU or UKER). At the same time, these guidelines set out transparent rules governing employees’ rights to file a complaint at FAU pursuant to Section 13 AGG.

In our newly created leaflet (PDF) you will find initial information on the topic as well as our initial and referral advice.

The Office of Equality and Diversity is one of the points of contact and counselling services at FAU according to section 6 of the guidelines. It provides confidential initial and referral advice for first of all female students and academic staff affected by sexual harrassment and discrimination. Further points of contact and counselling at FAU can be found in the next section.

In the initial meeting, the points of contact and counselling services at FAU discuss the issue with the person affected by discrimination, harassment or sexual harassment, explore the extent to which support is required, and they can advise individuals how to pursue the matter further. They offer information about preventative measures and appropriate actions, explain the arbitration procedure (see Section 6 para 5 of the guidelines) and the official complaints procedure (see Section 7 of the guidelines). If necessary, they can refer those seeking advice to other suitable, specialist internal or external advisory and support services or arrange an appointment for them.

Further information initial and referral advice see (German only): Antidiskriminierungsstelle des Bundes (2015): Leitfaden. Beratung bei Diskriminierung: erste Schritte und Weitervermittlung, Berlin.

Students

Academic or research staff

Administrative staff

Municipal anti-discrimination counseling and contact points

Erlangen

Nuremberg

Sexual discrimination and violence

CURRENT during the coronavirus pandemic: Bavaria against violence (concept for protection against violence and violence prevention)

Erlangen

Nuremberg

Nationwide

Crisis services

Discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity

Emergency during pregnancy

Other counseling centers

In section 7, 8 of the guideline, the complaints procedure is regulated and the respective complaints office at FAU and UKER is named. All further information on the complaints procedure can be found here.

A diagram illustrates the procedure for filing complaints set out in the guidelines.

As part of our campaign #FAUrespect – Respecting boundaries – Reporting misconduct, we would like to inform, raise awareness and make it clear that a zero-tolerance attitude towards harassment and discrimination of any kind must prevail at FAU. Support our #FAUrespect-campaign by hanging up our posters in your faculty/work area or displaying our information postcards with QR code. All formats can be ordered in the desired quantity directly at gender-und-diversity@fau.de.

English Version

German Version

Following materials are available for all faculties in the specific colors

(please see below example Faculty of Humanities)

Poster – English Version

Postcards with QR-Code – English Version

Poster – German Version

Postcards – German Version

You can find more information on the topicof anti-discrimination on the website of the Office of Equality and Diversity at FAU.

Contact Person

Harriet Ziegler