After students once again having face-painted themselves black for a dress-up party, university Vice-Chancellor Per Eriksson wants better awareness regarding values.
After the dummy slave auction at Halland’s nation stirred up a fuss two years ago, Lund University took measures by organizing meetings and informative discussions with students. Now, it has happened again. The university operations did not reach three students, who caused indignation among people passing by when the students were walking on the streets of Lund with their faces painted in black.
“It’s sad. But at the same time, we have 47,000 students at our university, so unfortunately, there will be issues to address. What’s important is to shed light on these things so they can be corrected to provide awareness programs for the future. And also, I expect these things to eventually fade away,” says Per Eriksson, Lund University Vice-Chancellor.
Discussion on inappropriate outfits
Even though the University is responsible for teaching the students about values, Per Eriksson doesn’t feel that their work has failed.
“There are constantly new generations to teach. Also, we receive more and more students from different backgrounds, cultures and religions, which is a contributing factor to a larger set of values to respect and to take into consideration. We will never reach a point where we feel that we have taught everything there is to know about these matters, and we always have to keep working together with these people”, he says.
There might be reasons for us to go back to organizing meetings with students discussing inappropriate outfits.
“I’d imagine that would be the consequence. However, that’s something that the faculties and the student unions will be in charge of,” says Per Eriksson.
Text: Simone Kamm
Translation: Maxim Aleman Tennell
