United Against Abuse of Power

In recent months, several cases of abuse of power at German universities have become public. The spectrum ranges from suspected sexual assault and allegations of discrimination to reports of appropriation of authorship and assignment of extraneous tasks. Particularly in the framework of a doctoral degree, doctoral students are heavily dependent on their supervisors, which can foster abuse of power in the academic system.

In a joint declaration by the State Rectors’ Conference, the universities in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) have condemned all forms of abuse of power in the strongest terms. They have also pledged to pursue any indication of such abuse and to consistently penalize corresponding incidents. Among other things, the Declaration of Undertaking (German only) calls for the universities to sensitize their members towards the issue and inform them about the offers available, to further develop concepts for interventions and sanctions, and to conclude Supervision Agreements across the board for doctoral projects. In addition, the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia and the State Rectors’ Conference intend to establish an independent contact point for victims and witnesses of abuse of power across all types of higher education institutions.

Working Group on Abuse of Power set up

TU Dortmund University is already implementing many of the measures foreseen in the Declaration of Undertaking. For example, a model Supervision Agreement is now available as part of the “Principles of Good Doctoral Supervision”, which in the future doctoral students and their supervisors should conclude together for doctoral projects. It regulates what they expect of their collaboration in respect of tasks, rights and obligations. It also raises awareness of the relationship of dependence and provides for organizational measures to strengthen the position of doctoral students. The university’s committees are currently working on a new version of the Doctoral Regulations, in which the Supervision Agreement will be anchored as a binding component. The Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia is planning to create the legal prerequisites for this throughout the state within the Higher Education Act.

In addition, and on the initiative of the university’s President, the Working Group on Abuse of Power was set up in the summer. Here, the various counseling services and contact points at TU Dortmund University are engaging in a process of exchange in order to take as broad a perspective as possible on this many-faceted issue. “TU Dortmund University will not tolerate any abuse of a position of power,” says Professor Manfred Bayer, the university’s President. “It is particularly important to me that we consolidate mechanisms to prevent abuse of power, make it easier to report individual cases and exhaust all our options for imposing sanctions. No one is allowed to look the other way.”

Counseling center has started work

Last year already, TU Dortmund University adopted guidelines for protection against discrimination and sexualized violence, with which it wants to proactively encourage work on anti-discrimination. In them, the university pledges to relentlessly pursue discrimination and sexualized violence and to sanction them within the scope of its legal and actual possibilities. In addition, it wants to sharpen awareness and draw attention towards both problems. The university has successfully obtained funding from the State of North Rhine-Westphalia to set up a central Counseling Center for Protection against Discrimination and Sexualized Violence. This has now started work, and in the future it will advise persons affected by these issues as well as raise awareness throughout the university towards discrimination and sexualized violence.