FD/SD Harassment Seminar Held

On Friday, March 8, 2024, Teikyo University's Gender Equality Promotion Committee and the Headquarters Human Resources Division jointly held an FD/SD Harassment Seminar titled "Sexual Minorities in Universities: LGBTQ+ and Universities." The seminar was held online via Zoom, and viewing venues were set up at each campus in Itabashi, Hachioji, Utsunomiya, and Fukuoka to allow a wide range of faculty and staff members to participate.

In this seminar, Professor Shingo Kukimoto of the Faculty of Liberal Arts Department of Sociology, Faculty of Letters, explained the terms and definitions related to sexual minorities, such as sexual orientation, gender identity, SOGI, LGBT, questioning, asexual, and non-binary. He spoke about the fact that sexuality is diverse at various levels and that the self-definition of the individual should be respected. He also explained that in order to allow students to live a calm university life, faculty and staff should strictly avoid outing students without permission, pay attention to privacy regarding gender, and make the university's stance visible. He also said that it is important to prepare an environment and opportunity where students can easily seek advice, and for faculty and staff to consider in advance what kind of response is possible. He also said that it is important to be aware of it yourself, keep updating yourself, and build trust with students, rather than being reluctant to communicate for fear of hurting others.
In the Q&A session that followed, there was a lively exchange of opinions on how to deal with sexual minorities and the balance between men and women during classes and practical training. There were opinions that the key points are to provide a variety of options on campus rather than mechanically separating genders, to prepare a system and menu for individual responses and consultation arrangements for students, to convey that consultations are welcome, and to show the university's stance of students, faculty, and staff working together to find the right answer. 170 people participated in this seminar, which deepened their knowledge by gaining new realizations about sexual minorities and gender, the situation and changes in society, and how to deal with them on campus.
Going forward, our university will continue to carry out various activities to create a comfortable environment for students.

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