A proposed equality and anti-discrimination policy at one of Poland’s leading universities – especially its elements relating to trans people – has sparked anger from conservative groups, including politicians from the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, who say that it represents “extreme leftist Western ideologies”.
The document has been developed by Adam Mickiewicz University (AMU) in Poznań with the aim of preventing discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation, race and religion, reports Gazeta Wyborcza. It has been sent out for consultation and the rector, Bogumiła Kaniewska, hopes it will be ratified this month.
“At AMU we do not exclude anybody – we want everybody to feel at home,” explained Kaniewska, who in 2020 became the first woman to lead the university, which is Poland’s third largest and ranked as one of its top five
Klaudia Strzelecka, head of the PiS caucus on Poznań city council, is not convinced. “We are observing recent events at AMU with great concern,” she wrote. “The document is biased towards extreme leftist ideologies drawn from the West. Let us hope the final version will truly serve the good of students and the university, and not various extreme ideologies.”
The document has been analysed by Ordo Iuris, a prominent ultraconservative legal group, which concluded that it violates fundamental rights, such as freedom of speech, guaranteed by the Polish constitution and international law
The local branch of All-Polish Youth (Młodzież Wszechpolska), one of Poland’s foremost far-right groups, also objected to the policy, writing to the rector to demand the removal of “controversial contents”. The organisation said it was considering approaching education minister Przemysław Czarnek to request an audit of the university.
In the draft document, one example of harassment listed is “deliberate use of an incorrect forename or pronoun towards a transgender person or reference to their gender identity”.
“The university cannot turn a blind eye to the problems that students, including trans students, bring to its attention,” said Kaniewska, whose university now allows trans students to change their names in its information systems, following the lead of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.
But Ordo Iuris claims that such policies are founded on “gender ideology”, something it, like PiS, sees as a Western import that Poland must resist. “In reality, it would cause discrimination or even bullying of people with views not conforming to the orthodoxy,” warns Ordo Iuris.
Punishing people for naming a person’s sex – which “is a biological fact that only people infected with leftist newspeak might dispute” – is an “absurd and sick idea”, concurs Dawid Trzeciak of All-Polish Youth.
Kaniewska, however, argues that those who “try to reduce [the policy] solely to issues related to gender or sexual orientation miss the point of the document…[which] concerns many phenomena, such as persecution based on religion, race, nationality, age, health, appearance, etc.”
“The aim is to improve the organisational culture of the university in the name of respect for the dignity of every human being, every member of the academic community,” she added, noting that such efforts are not new nor unique to her university.
Main image credit: Lukasz Cynalewski / Agencja Gazeta
Ben Koschalka is a translator and senior editor at Notes from Poland. Originally from Britain, he has lived in Kraków since 2005.
