Sexual Harassment Awareness Day 2025

Tuesday, 29 April 2025 is the date of Sexual Harassment Awareness Day, a national campaign promoted by swissuniversities in cooperation with numerous universities, universities of applied sciences, universities of teacher education and research institutes throughout Switzerland with the main objective of raising awareness of sexual harassment in academic environments and promoting safer and more respectful study and work environments.

Through this awareness day, academic institutions want to emphasise the importance of a collective commitment to preventing and dealing with such situations, creating an environment in which all members of university communities can feel protected and supported. The initiative aims not only to inform and educate the academic community, but also to encourage dialogue and the construction of effective policies to counter this type of behaviour.

On the campaign's official website, useful resources are available to learn more about the topic, with the possibility of downloading information materials, guides and other tools designed to educate and raise awareness among the academic community. You are encouraged to share these materials within your study and work networks to amplify the message and reach a wider audience.

The Sexual Harassment Awareness Day 2025 programme at USI includes activities and events designed to inform and actively involve students, academic and administrative staff.

Programme of activities and information:

• Stereotypes, gender prejudice and sexual harassment: how to counter them.
  Monday, 28 April 2025, from 1:30 pm to 5 pm, Aula polivalente, Sector A, East Campus.
  A workshop open to USI and SUPSI employees that aims to acquire the knowledge and skills to identify gender stereotypes, gender prejudices and to understand when there is sexual harassment, and, on the communication and organisational level, that make it possible to prevent and counteract sexual harassment. The worksho will be held by Danuscia Tschudi, senior researcher at the Centre for Competence in Work, Welfare and Society (DEASS), course leader, and Brita Kleindienst, actress and trainer at the Accademia Teatro Dimitri.
  Registration by 11 April via the following link.

• Online event with Bontu Guschke open to all members of the Swiss universities.
  Tuesday, 29 April, 12:15 to 1:15 pm. More information will follow.
   
• Information stands on USI campuses.
  Awareness-raising information stands will be set up on all USI university campuses. Stands will be set up at the USI West Campu Lugano, USI SUPSI East Campus Lugano Viganello, at the Academy of Architecture, Mendrisio, and at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), Bellinzona.
   
• Equality box
  The "Equality box" is always available at the south entrance of the West Campus Lugano (Office 202), at the secretariat of the Faculty of Informatics on the East Campus and on the Mendrisio Campus. This special letterbox invites people in the USI community to send in any requests for support, reports, thoughts and suggestions on gender, equal opportunities and diversity issues. Please note that the Equality box is not a tool for collecting reports of particularly sensitive cases, which should instead be sent to the Equal Opportunities Service, [email protected].
   
• IntegriSafe
  USI promotes a culture aimed at safeguarding the mental and physical integrity of all persons belonging to the university community in the performance of their learning, teaching, continuing education, work, scientific research and Third Mandate activities, supporting and disseminating the principles of respect, honesty, reliability and responsibility. Visit the IntegriSafe page to discover educational offers on the topic aimed at the university community and awareness events offered over the year.