Our university announced by issuing a declaration of intent in December 2019 that it would carry out studies to ensure gender equality and to prevent all forms of violence and discrimination, especially sexual harassment and violence in the workplace.
Following this declaration, the working group, which has the mission of developing an egalitarian and inclusive approach in all activities and processes carried out by our university, and which consists of academicians who are experts in their own fields, started its work as of October 2020. The working group, which we call the BAU Commission for Equality and Inclusion Studies (BAUEQUAL), has created a work program that it believes will have lasting results on what can be done about sexual harassment and gender-based violence, workplace violence and discrimination-based violence.
To date, BAUEQUAL has studied local and international models to identify steps to be taken to create a nonviolent campus and an inclusive education/work atmosphere. In order to understand the current situation of Bahçeşehir University, a series of analysis studies were initiated for students and employees. It also developed a detailed internal research to identify the unique needs maps of BAU members and respond to those needs. With the internal research, it was aimed to determine the perceptions and attitudes of BAU staff and students regarding gender equality, living with diversity and inclusion. It was envisaged that this research would have the feature of a situation analysis for the institutional policies to be implemented. After the analysis of the data compiled by the survey method, it was planned to carry out in-house training programs, panels, workshops organized with student clubs, and activities that would cover the entire campus.
BAU Equality and Inclusion Studies Commission (BAUEQUAL) aimed to take the initiative on how to proceed when such events occur as much as it has given importance to preventive education towards becoming a non-violent campus/workplace. In this context, BAUEQUAL Unit has been established, where anyone within the university can apply if they are exposed to an action that falls under the definitions of gender-based violence, discrimination, sexual violence and psychological violence. As BAUEQUAL, we hope that the solutions we will produce by adopting participatory methods will offer effective and sustainable practices for our university's vision of creating an inclusive, equal and non-violent campus life.
BAU Equality and Inclusion Studies Committee Members:
Prof. Dr. Tunç Bozbura
Prof. Dr. Aslı Makaracı Başak
Prof. Dr. Pınar Melis Yelsalı Parmaksız
Dr. Nora Tataryan Aslan
Dr. Sinan Aşçı
Dr. Bahar Tanyaş
Dr. Güner Hande Ulutürk
Dr. Gül Şener
Arzu Yüksel
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