Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz is committed to internationality, diversity, tolerance, and respect. There is no room here for discriminatory attitudes, group-focused enmity, extremist or radical behavior, antisemitism, Islamophobia or other actions directed against any religious community, or for racism, homophobia, or ideologies directed against minorities at our university. And it will stay that way.
The university will not provide individuals and groups whose actions and programs violate the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany and the university’s mission statement with a platform.
At Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, people with diverse beliefs, backgrounds, origins, and lifestyles all live, learn, and work together. Our campus must be a safe place for every member of our community.
Did you experience or witness something on JGU’s campus that you cannot exactly categorize, but feels like discrimination? Do you have questions you cannot answer about the incident? Did it leave you feeling uneasy? If you would like to talk about it or make a report, contact JGU’s Anti-Discrimination Office for professional support.
With the term “discrimination”, we mean forms of less favorable treatment based on a characteristic protected under the General Equal Treatment Act (Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz, AGG), and disparagement, harassment, or stigmatization based on these actual or presumed characteristics. The decisive factor for an incident to be classified as discrimination is the result, not the motive. Discrimination can be both direct and indirect and can manifest in different ways.
In general, it is discrimination when unequal treatment occurs under equal conditions. For example, when students are denied participation because of the color of their skin.
However, it is also discrimination when equal treatment occurs under unequal conditions.
Our qualified counseling services respond promptly and are close to campus. Our premises are accessible. Contact can also be made anonymously.
There are different ways to get in touch:
You can use any of the above options for getting in touch in order to
Gender-neutral language is part of a reflective and diverse language practice. Section 4 (2) of the University Act (HochSchG | German) stipulates that higher education institutions must take into account “the principles of gender neutral official and legal language, particularly in their statutes and official correspondence ” (“insbesondere in ihren Satzungen und im dienstlichen Schriftverkehr die Grundsätze der geschlechtsgerechten Amts- und Rechtssprache” zu berücksichtigen).
Language can discriminate in many ways. JGU is committed to reflective, respectful, and diverse language practices.
In 2020/2021, JGU published a guideline (PDF) in German, developed and discussed in the university’s senate, which addresses various aspects of non-discriminatory language and provides practical examples and different levels of application. With this guideline, JGU encourages its members to reflect on their language practices and provide impetus and practical tips for implementing lower-discrimination language. In addition to addressing the topic of gender-sensitive communication, it provides impulses with regard to a language practice that also address aspects of linguistic discrimination risks such as age, class, status, disability, skin color, or origin, which have so far only been marginally considered.
The cues and instructions listed below will help you plan and implement a discrimination-sensitive event. Organizers are expressly advised that this list is for support purposes only and does not claim to be exhaustive, nor are all the points listed feasible or necessary for every event.
