Equality needs actions, not just flags
As the month has turned to June, so have the logos of the corporations change in rainbow colors. They inform that they fight for equality and are allies of the LGBT+-community, but the thing is that year includes 12 months, and you need to support equality and sexual and gender minorities in your corporation in all of those months. Not just June, the pride month.
JAMKO trusteeship includes the trusteeship of students that are minorities, i.e. student’s that belong to the gender and sexuality minorities. Trusteeship includes taking care that equality happens.
JAMKO can be seen in the Jyväskylä Pride parade and JAMKO is planning a program for Jyväskylä’s Pride week. But as mentioned earlier, equality work must be done every month of the year. In addition to these, JAMKO supports Jyväskylä Seta’s equality work. JAMKO makes its own equality plan and the principles of a safer space (Code of conduct), which take into account the diversity of students and the right to be themselves without fear of harassment or discrimination. Both will be discussed by JAMKO’s representatives council after the summer.
One of the values in JAMKO’s strategy is to take care. It includes guaranteeing safety and equality and promoting well-being, as well as acting as a spokesperson for students. Without implementation, these are just words. Turning words into action needs a plan as a map, and that’s exactly what the previously mentioned equality plan is.
In addition to the strategy, JAMKO’s representative council has approved the political guideline paper for the years 2023-2026, which separately takes into account the protection of the interests of students belonging to gender and sexual minorities. These include the following policies: “Everyone should have the right to self-determination of their own gender, and the legal gender and nickname can be changed with their own notice.”, “Campuses should have gender-neutral restrooms, where the privacy and safety of each individual is taken into account.” and “The university’s atmosphere is safe and supports coping, there is zero tolerance for both bullying and harassment.” The political guideline paper will be on JAMKO’s website during the fall.
As a student trusteeship, one of the most important targets of influence is our own University of Applied Sciences Jamk. JAMKO is involved in the work on Jamk’s equality plan and a safer space (Code of conduct), so that the students’ voice is heard when plans are drawn up. In addition to this, JAMKO’s representative council has selected several student representatives for working groups, where they bring out students’ perspectives. Themes related to equality are brought up in different working groups. In the tutor trainings, guidance of different students is discussed and stereotypes are discussed with various exercises and how one can take into account one’s own assumptions so that they do not affect the tutoring.
In JAMKO we take care that our LBGT+ students are heard all year around, not just in June.
Lauri Kujala
The Chairperson of the board
pj(a)jamko.fi