You can send your request for counseling using the form below.

Freie Universität Berlin’s core values include ensuring that all university members feel appreciated, taking steps to promote equity, and raising awareness about discrimination in order to dismantle it. That is why the university is committed to actively recognizing and combating discrimination in all its forms. Freie Universität Berlin’s Antidiscrimination Policy outlines the specific goals and measures it pursues to prevent and combat discrimination and promote diversity.

What is Discrimination?

Discrimination occurs when a person experiences unjustified disadvantages or personally offensive treatment based on an actual or ascribed characteristic that falls into a protected category. Freie Universität Berlin recognizes the following dimensions as potential categories for disrimination:

• Ethnic origin, racist and antisemitic attributions
• Gender, including gender identity
• Sexual orientation
• Age
• Nationality
• Language
• Religion and beliefs
• Social status
• Disability, chronic illness, and health impairment
• Social and familial situation

Discrimination in a university context can manifest itself in many ways, for example:

• An instructor refuses to use a student’s chosen name and pronouns. This means that the trans, intersex, or nonbinary student is outed in front of their classmates without their consent.
• A Muslim doctoral candidate is fasting during Ramadan. During a meeting for a project group other participants make derogatory and exoticizing comments about the religious practices of Muslims.
• A person who could be read as Asian enters the room and several people put on an FFP2 mask.
• A student’s application for a grant to go abroad for a semester is rejected because they have a chronic illness.
• Racist and orientalist stereotypes are reproduced and normalized in teaching content and in seminars.

What Should I Do If I Experience Discrimination?

All university members have the right to counseling if they experience (potential) discrimination.

Antidiscrimination Counseling at the Diversity and Antidiscrimination Office is designed to support you in these types of situations.

Please feel free to reach out to us if you are unsure whether or not you have experienced discrimination. We offer a safe space and support so that you can reflect on what you have experienced and identify possible strategies for moving forward.

Counseling is confidential, free, and voluntary.

You decide which information you want to share with us over the course of your consultation.

Further steps will only be taken with your consent.

Counseling sessions can take place by telephone, face-to-face, or by video conference.

Counseling is available in German or English.