Discrimination:

Unequal, inferior, often also unlawful act, omission, criterion or regulation concerning people or groups on grounds of their actual or alleged identity traits, such as: sex, gender identity, skin colour (“race”), language, national or ethnic origin, religion, denomination or lack of religious beliefs, worldview, health status and degree of ability, age, psychosexual orientation, socio-economic status, etc. (it is not a closed catalogue).

Pursuant to the regulations applicable in Poland, the following forms of discrimination are distinguished:

• harassment;
• sexual harassment.

Harassment:

Undesirable behaviour related to one or several identity traits, whose aim or result is the violation of
a natural person’s dignity and creating in relation to them an intimidating, hostile, demeaning, humiliating or disparaging atmosphere, e.g. jokes and comments containing anti-Semitic, racist, homophobic, sexist (referring to gender) messages, disagreeable and offensive insults as well as persistent silence in the presence of that person, bullying, crossing physical and psychological limits, making offensive gestures or noises, etc.

Sexual harassment:

Any undesirable behaviour of a sexual nature or referring to the gender of a person, whose aim or result is the violation of a natural person’s dignity, especially by creating in relation to them an intimidating, hostile, demeaning, humiliating or disparaging atmosphere; such behaviour may be composed of physical, verbal or non-verbal elements (e.g. touching, coming up too close, groping, comments referring to appearance, the body of female or male students as well as showing or posting photographs presenting women as sexual objects). The term “undesirable behaviour” emphasizes the lack of consent to certain behaviours and an expression of objection to them.

Hate speech:

All forms of expression (spoken, written, graphic representations, etc.) mocking, degrading, abusing, accusing people or other entities as well as threatening them or instilling a sense of threat in them due to their actual or alleged identity trait. Hate speech is the public expression of beliefs that depreciate, denigrate, and dehumanize a group of people due to some identity traits We are dealing with hate speech also in the case when genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes are publicly denied, trivialized or justified. One example of hate speech is xenophobic, anti-Semitic ore racist slogans and drawings, e.g. on walls or in the media.

In Poland, defamation or incitement to hate on grounds of nationality, race, ethnicity, religion or lack of religious beliefs is forbidden and punishable pursuant to Articles 256 and 257 of the Polish Criminal Code. These crimes are prosecuted in Poland ex officio, which means that the police or prosecutor's office must take legal steps. For this reason, it is crucial to report all such incidents. There is no specific criminal law provision in Poland providing direct protection of people against hate speech on other grounds, yet, depending on the factual circumstances, the conduct of a person using hate speech may amount to another criminal offence.

 

According to § 4 of the statute of the Jagiellonian University, the Univeristy counteracts discrimination and ensures equal treatment of all the members of the community of the University. This regulation provides additional protection against the discrimination, inluding hate speech. based on other ground, e.g. origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

Discrimination on grounds of gender:

• A lecturer lowers the requirements for female students: he does not expect them to master the entire material from class, he asks them easier questions during the exam, and evaluates them more leniently.
• A student who is breastfeeding in the university’s corridor is requested by the secretarial staff to leave the building due to “obscenity”.
• A male and female student answer questions during an examination. In the end, the examiner says: “You, Sir, will get a good mark, and you, Madam, a very good mark because you are not only clever, but also pretty!”
• The perpetuation of stereotypical images of women or men in materials promoting the activity of
• a student research group or in the course of student cultural activity (e.g. “Super Student” and “Nicest Female Student” contests).
• Crossing the physical boundaries of another person – e.g. by unwanted touching, embracing or kissing (a lecturer embracing a student and kissing her on the cheek while handing her a certificate of completion of an additional course may constitute such a crossing of boundaries).

Harassment:

• In physical education class, a student refuses to exercise in pair with a friend about whom “everyone knows” that he is gay. He justifies it using the following words: “I find contact with pansies disgusting”. The teacher fails to react, whereas the student remains without a pair and does not take part in the exercise.
• During family law classes, the lecturer makes the following comment when discussing the institution of marriage: “there are certain environments that demoralize society by encouraging the legalization of deviations”. Two students clearly demonstrate their indignation by frowning and shaking their heads; one of them stands up and says that as a homosexual person he feels humiliated by such a statement. Confusion arises in the room – some students laugh while others leave. The lecturer fails to react.
• Students imitate apes whenever they pass a dark-skinned lecturer in the corridor.
• Polish students mock the way Polish is spoken by foreign students.
• A lecturer teases in class people who have completed first-degree studies at another university; she asks them more difficult questions and does not allow them to take tests without previously completing additional tasks (not envisaged in the syllabus).
• A lecturer mocks a given faculty’s students pursuing a course of study considered less “elite” or a part-time course.

Sexual harassment:

• A female lecturer says in class: “These days, you know, everyone can change their gender as they like! The world's turned upside down!”
• In front of the room entrance, an examiner, who sees a student repeating the material in the corridor, says: “You’d better put on a low-cut blouse, Madam, because I doubt that a woman is able to understand that”.
• Comments by male students in relation to female students, e.g. “With such lungs, you’ll pass that exam for sure.”
• A lecturer “half-jokingly” announces that female students who come to the exam wearing trousers will get worse marks than the ones wearing skirts.
• A lecturer has picked one male student in a predominantly female group. During classes, she asks him whether he has found a girlfriend, makes fun of him and calls him “our boy” or “little raisin”.
• Sexist “jokes”/memes/messages – i.e. referring to gender or sexuality – published on the internet forum of the group or on the class group on FB.

Hate speech:

• During a lecture on the history of the USA, the lecturer says: “America was discovered by Christopher Columbus. He slaughtered all the savages, putting an end to the barbarity of the red-skinned people. What a great story!”
• A sticker with the statement “No gay sex” in a lift inside a dormitory.
• Gallows with the Star of David hanging, painted on the wall of a tenement building.

The reaction to a situation crossing our boundaries depends on multiple factors – for example on:

• our position/role/function – including in relation to the perpetrator;
• assessment of the situation and objective we want to achieve by reacting;
• form (statement, action, omission, etc.);
• place (internet, direct contact, etc.);
• assessment of the consequences;
• awareness of the problem;
• familiarity with the law and procedures.

There is no single reaction pattern, and therefore it is crucial to document cases of harassment, sexual harassment and other forms of discrimination, as well as to react to them in a manner that is available and safe to us at a given moment.