The Equality Officer

The Equality Officer at the American Studies Center is Dr. Krystyna Mazur.

The Equality Officer is the first contact in OSA for students and employees:

• when there is a need for support/ advice/ explanation and recommendation of contacts with the central administration units in cases requiring intervention, such as discrimination, mobbing, sexual harassment,
• for the dissemination of information about equality activities conducted by the University of Warsaw.

Definitions

Discrimination

Discrimination is a phenomenon consisting of unfair and biased differentiation of people due to their personal characteristics, such as, i.a. gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, nationality, ethnic origin, religion.

Discriminatory behavior is defined as behavior that results in a given person being treated differently than another in a comparable situation.
Discrimination is a form of unjustified, biased and stereotype-based marginalization of specific social groups which share a specific common characteristic.

Mobbing

Pursuant to the Labor Code, mobbing is defined as any action or behavior concerning or directed toward an employee, consisting in persistent and long-term harassment or intimidation, which causes an underestimation of professional usefulness, humiliation or ridicule, isolate or exclusion of an employee from the workplace.

• Mobbing includes different types of behavior aimed at making a given person feel inferior, excluded, isolated and lose self-esteem.
• Situations in which mobbing occurs may take various forms; hence, mobbing may be unjustified, continuous criticism, mockery, humiliation, ignoring, spreading gossip, forcing to perform more challenging tasks, and assigning tasks that are beyond a given person’s abilities or competency so as to emphasize their lack of professional usefulness.

Sexual harassment

It is any unwanted sexual conduct related to sex or gender that aims to violate a person’s dignity, in particular by creating an intimidating, hostile, humiliating or offensive atmosphere for them – such behavior may include physical, verbal or non-verbal elements.

• Sexual harassment may take various behavior forms, such as inappropriate jokes with a sexual connotation, insinuations, physical touching, obscene comments, emotional blackmail, etc.
• The concept of “unwanted behavior related to sex or gender” means socially unacceptable conduct. Thus, not only individual protection is provided to the person subjected to sexual harassment, but also the community is protected against behavior that violates moral norms and is additionally aimed at humiliating another person.
• Even behavior seemingly accepted by the victim, but perceived by others as inappropriate, indecent, embarrassing, and thus creating a bad atmosphere, should not be tolerated, as it violates the principles of social coexistence.
• Similarly, as in the case of harassment, a precondition for sexual harassment is the lack of the harassed person’s consent to specific behaviour and their objection to the abuser.
• Sexual harassment may also constitute a crime pursuant to the provisions of the Penal Code of 6 June 1997 (Art. 197 § 1 of the Penal Code, Art. 198 of the Penal Code, Art. 199 of the Penal Code).

Other inappropriate behaviors

Other inappropriate behaviors may include: boundary-blurring behaviors in the teacher-student relationship that create a sense of discomfort, for example: through the use of private communicators, by engaging with students on their social media, and/or talking extensively about private matters; favoritism and/or neglect. Isolated and rare instances of such behaviors do not usually constitute a cause for alarm but increased intensity and frequency of such behaviors may warrant further attention. 

Receiving Support

The Equality Officer (kmazur@uw.edu.pl) works with two teams that deal respectively with: 

• informal remediation (the Academic Ombudsperson team) 
• formal complaint handling (the Coordinators for Unequal Treatment, Discrimination, Mobbing and Other Undesirable Behaviors, who forward complaints to the Anti-Discrimination Commission). 

Students and faculty can contact the Equality Officer (the first point of contact who may serve as an intermediary) or directly the Ombudsperson’s Office.

Academic Ombudsperson’s Office (www.ombudsman.uw.edu.pl) is a place where you can report a conflict (between employees, between a student and an employee etc.) or discrimination and sexual harassment. The UW Ombudsperson is Magdalena Miksa. The contact is confidential – your name and surname are not known to anyone except the one reporting and the Ombudsperson.

The Ombudsperson offers:

• Direct support for a person experiencing discrimination.
• Information on available psychological help – redirection to the Psychological Assistance Center if necessary.
• Contact with the faculty/ relevant academic unit and assistance in obtaining organizational support, e.g. in terms of changing class groups, changing exam dates, obtaining sick leave or occasional leave, etc.
• Educational activities for the perpetrator, e.g. direct explanatory and educational conversation, conversation with the perpetrator’s superiors, recommendation to participate in anti-discrimination training / workshops.
• Disciplining actions against the perpetrator – written signal to the supervisor, recommendation to initiate a formal complaint procedure.

Contact: ombudsman@uw.edu.pl 

Anti-Discrimination Procedure is the procedure for handling formal complaints.

• The procedure defines the rules for counteracting discrimination, including sexual harassment at the University of Warsaw. It also defines how to proceed in situations where discrimination occurs. The purpose of the procedure is to support activities against discrimination, protect members of the UW community and support people who have experienced discrimination.
• The complaint under the Anti-Discrimination Procedure is open and is submitted to the Anti-Discrimination Coordinator. Information on the initiation of the case is sent to the accused and their superiors. The Anti-Discrimination Commission conducts explanatory proceedings aimed at issuing an opinion on whether the acts or omissions are discriminatory.
• In its opinion, the Anti-Discrimination Commission may recommend corrective actions (e.g. transfer of an employee, change of group in the case of a student, psychological support, obligatory participation in anti-discrimination workshops, etc.) or the application of disciplinary sanctions. The explanatory panel may also recommend the initiation of anti-mobbing proceedings.

Contact: Anna Grędzińska  koordynator-antydyskryminacja@uw.edu.pl  
To submit a complaint: https://rownowazni.uw.edu.pl/en/filing-a-formal-complaint-of-discrimination/ 

Useful links

Psychological Counseling Center of the University of Warsaw

An initiative of the University of Warsaw for people working and studying who experience various types of psychological problems, low mood, etc. They cooperate with the Office for Persons with Disabilities.

https://rownowazni.uw.edu.pl/en/we-are-all-equal/ UW equality website where you can find information and advice on prevention of and counteracting discrimination and forms of support, including:

• information about types of discrimination,
• information for persons who have experienced discrimination or witnessed it,
• list of contacts at UW and outside the University,
• information about the Anti-Discrimination Committee,
• information about equality initiatives, including Gender Equality Plan for UW,
• Anti-discrimination Guidebook,
• information about prevention of sexual harassment 
• information for students, scholars and administrative employees on trainings and courses,
• Q&A – answers to frequently asked questions.

Gender Equality Plan for University of Warsaw: equality strategy for 2020-2023. It is based on five goals, formulated on the basis of research on the needs of the UW community, expert consultations and a review of solutions employed in European universities.

Anti-discrimination Handbook for Working and Studying at University of Warsaw

Guide to prevention of sexual harassment at the UW

A social campaign: “We are all Equal” – posters you already know, as well as educational videos on counteracting various forms of discrimination at the University of Warsaw.

Understanding Equality: an online course offering knowledge about equal treatment and skills related to anti-discrimination. Available in Polish and in English for employees and students. Students: OGUN each semester. Employees: on Kampus platform in section “Szkolenia dostępne dla wszystkich pracowników”

Additionally, in Polish: Recommendations for non-discriminatory language at University of Warsaw – a guide prepared by an expert team from the Faculty of Polish Studies at University of Warsaw.

Commission for Counteracting Mobbing at University of Warsaw

For reporting cases of mobbing/ workplace bullying