Professor Dr Katajun Amirpur entered new territory in 2022: She was the first person ever to become a Rector’s Representative for Anti-racism at a German university. Dr Rahab Njeri is responsible for the topic in the Department of Gender & Diversity Management. Here they explain what racism and discrimination can look like in an academic environment and what the university does to address it.

Interviewer: Eva Schissler

Dr Njeri, you have been responsible for the area of anti-racism at the university since 2021. I understand that you have some familiarity with the topic?

Njeri: Yes, I accepted the position shortly after I finished my doctoral thesis. As a historian, I have also dealt with racism and discrimination. In fact, my first task at the university was to find a Rectorate Representative for Anti-racism. This was not so easy, because there are very few ‘scholars of colour’ among the professors and lecturers. Representation is also part of this office, so that was an issue. And last but not least, it should be a person who has already worked in the area of racism.

Anti-racism – anti-racist efforts reveal how racist ideas and structures have historically emerged, how they continue to have an effect today and are partly reproduced unconsciously. The focus is on institutions, groups, individuals and collective knowledge.

Professor Amirpur, how did you come to be in this position?

Amirpur: The former Vice-Rector for Equal Opportunities and Academic Career, Stephan Michael Schröder, asked me if I could imagine taking on the role. I initially declined. I have hardly had any direct experiences of racism myself. I’m actually ‘too white’, so I didn’t find myself representative enough. In addition, as an Islamic scholar, I also deal with topics such as anti-Muslim racism, but my actual research areas are Iranian intellectual history and reform Islam.

How did it work out in the end?

Amirpur: I was asked to look for a suitable candidate. At our Faculty meeting, I then looked around and saw that I was still by far the ‘non-whitest’ person there. This is similar in the other Faculties. So I decided to do it; I care about the issue, I want to get involved as an ally.

In view of the low number of non-white professors at our university: Has anti-racism come to play a role in the recruitment process for professors – similarly to the issue of gender equality?

Amirpur: Mostly not. I was equal opportunities officer of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities for two years and thus took part in various recruitment processes for professors. The problem is that BIPoC candidates do not apply in the first place. No one systematically sorts out their applications. The problem is: Too few people get to the point of doing a doctoral degree at all.

BIPoC – The acronym stands for Black, Indigenous and People of Colour and describes a broadly defined group of people who are discriminated against on the basis of their appearance or religious and historical circumstances. Indigenous groups experiencing racism and oppression in Europe include Jews, Sinti and Roma, and in Scandinavia the Sami.

So the question arises: Where exactly is the glass ceiling? We know this phenomenon of the glass ceiling in relation to women. One third of our students has a migration background. At which point do they hit the glass ceiling – after the Master’s degree, after the BA? How can we change that and promote them? One idea would be a mentoring programme.

What can such a programme achieve?

Njeri: I see the reason for the problem in the fact that competition for jobs at universities is already high. BIPoC people can get sidelined. So mentoring programmes are important because otherwise many BIPoC people study and do their doctorates in Germany, but then go abroad. As soon as one has gained a good reputation there, the door to German universities is open again. It is the phase in between when we have a problem. To ensure that we do not lose these talents, we can mentor them during critical career phases.

Amirpur: It would also be a good idea to establish a professorship for racism research so that this topic is not only a field of action at the university, but also a topic in research and teaching.

What are your most important activities when we consider anti-racism as a field of action for the university?

Njeri: For example, I offer advice to employees. In doing so, I keep noticing that many colleagues do not even know that we exist. We need to create spaces where we can talk about racism in the university context. And, of course, we are also there when something happens in the context of racism. We are available to talk confidentially and constructively with all sides. In addition, I give talks and offer consultations if entire institutes or units want to address the topic of anti-racism.
Especially in teaching, the question of how to deal with certain terms that are potentially racist often arises. It is often also a question of why anti-racism is relevant as a topic at all and concerns us all – in teaching and research, among students and in the administration. I would particularly like to reach the administration even more, because they are an important part of the university and must be included in this process of self-reflection.

Is it difficult to initiate a critical reflection on racism at all at a university? Because in its self-image it is a place of democracy and of free spirit, which stands above such things.

Amirpur: That is the attitude I encounter quite often. In the last few months, I have made the rounds to introduce myself in the Faculties and to talk about my tasks as Rectorate Representative. I want to raise awareness, but also to free the topic from taboos. Because people tend to think: “What do I have to do with it? I'm a professor, I'm not that stupid.” But that’s a false conclusion. I have to be careful about this, because I do not to shame anyone or put the spotlight on them. At the same time, however, professors often lack anti-racist awareness, especially in terms of language. The Department for Gender & Diversity Management has now published guidelines for this.

How big is the problem?

Amirpur: In fact, we see many cases in which professors express themselves unreasonably. An example: A professor asks a student wearing a headscarf: “Shall I say that more slowly?” He assumes, therefore, that she cannot speak German because of her external appearance. That’s unacceptable. This is where I come in to have a talk with the professor. It’s better if you are a professor yourself, since unfortunately we are a fairly hierarchical institution.

However, I have also noticed that there is quite some insight and that some incidents reach a positive outcome. After the N-word was used during a lecture at the Faculty of Medicine, the idea arose in the discussion with the respective professor and the Vice-Dean for Academic Development and Equal Opportunities, Elke Kalbe, to offer a teaching module for aspiring physicians on the topic of how harmful language can be and how it affects mental health. I think that’s a great result.

Wouldn’t it be easier for students and lecturers to sort this kind of thing out amongst themselves?

Amirpur: When students bring up these kinds of issues with professors, the problems are often not taken seriously. They often get the feedback that they shouldn’t “make such a fuss”. This leads to the widespread feeling among our students that they are not heard, not seen, not perceived on an equal level. This actually affects mental health very much. But it is in the interest of the University of Cologne not to be linked to racism in the media. Such a reputation is not helpful for internationalization efforts. Neither international students nor lecturers will come to such a university.

But there must be a general outcry when something racist is expressed in a lecture or seminar, isn’t there?

Njeri: Sometimes, in such cases, there are discussions after the seminar, in which it turns out that many students did not find the statement to be acceptable. But they didn’t dare to say that directly. In this situation, BIPoC students have the feeling that they are alone. We need critical allies at the university. It is a pity that there are so few, because that way individual students are always in the position to have to explain what racism is and why a particular expression was racist. But this is an institutional, not an individual problem. Institutional problems need institutional solutions.

Then the university is not yet the place of free and fair exchange of thoughts that it aspires to be?

Njeri: Unfortunately, this is exactly the experience of many students – but also employees. You may also be wondering: Who can I contact if something happens to me? What happens afterwards and what consequences do I have to bear when I address racism and discrimination?

We know from the report of the external psychologist who offers racism consultations to BIPoC students at the university that after a racist incident, the affected persons first have to process the experience for themselves, then they decide to report it or not. There is a culture of silence at the university – and that also of silencing others: The moment I talk about something, I get push-back from other students or staff that I shouldn’t take it so seriously or that it was all just a misunderstanding. What I say is not heard. The result is gaslighting and those affected feel unsure or intimidated in what they perceive. Then they don’t speak up anything more and the problem remains invisible.

How can we change our perception of racism?

Njeri: First of all, we must accept that racism also takes place at the university because it is not a neutral place. Everyone at university can call us in – in cases where racism and discrimination occur, or just for prevention and awareness-raising. Not every person in a leadership position is trained in anti-racism and can recognize it. We always strive for constructive solutions, can offer mediation and recommend measures. We are currently developing a best practice, including feedback and follow-up. After all, it is in our common interest that cases of racism, which may then end up in the media, should no longer occur at the university – among other things because we have the structures and the expertise.

How can we reach this point?

Njeri: Anti-racism is a relatively new topic for German universities, so there are still no established processes, no ‘five steps’ that can be followed. But the development is positive: After the Diversity Re-audit of the Stifterverband in 2023, the University of Cologne was described as the ‘leading university in NRW and Germany, among other things in the fields of anti-discrimination and anti-racism.’ The university is thus a model for many universities in Germany when it comes to anti-racism.

We can learn from each incident, make our actions more transparent and show: We are taking this seriously and something is being done. Affected persons who have reported an incident will receive a response. There is no absolute ‘safe space’ at the university, but we can create ‘safer spaces’. Then a space can emerge in which those who experience racism and those who reproduce it can talk openly and self-critically to each other and sensitize themselves – without being condemned as individuals.

FURTHER INFORMATION
The study ‘Being Black in the EU’ by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) comes to the conclusion that people with African roots experience discrimination and racism especially in Germany and Austria.

The Afrocensus of the educational association Each One Teach One (EOTO) e.V. and the civil society umbrella organization Citizens for Europe, together with other partners, investigates the social and economic situation of black people in Germany.

Guidelines, Information and Resources