THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STUDENTS

The difference between «us» and «them» has always been visible in history. We usually talk about it as something of the past, something that we, the modern ones, are not a part of. Today, I’d get really upset if someone asked me what race I am or if someone would suggest that I’d be a lesser engineer because I’m a girl. We don’t talk about black or white students; neither do we talk about male and female students – because there is no difference?

Recently, the issue about the traditional name for the female students at KTH - Osqulda (similar to «oskuld», the Swedish word for virgin) - came into question, as it plays on outdated gender roles. I think that asking the question is a step in the right direction, and regardless of whether we change the name or not, I think we should be aware of the signals we send when we call the female students Osqulda. But hey, why do we even make a difference between female and male students? «It’s tradition» and «it’s been so since the 50’s» might be two possible answers. Have you ever questioned why we still make this difference? I did some quick research and found the wiki-page for students at technical universities (Teknologer).

«Chalmerister kallas

Emil och Emilia

Linköpingsteknologer kallas

Linus och Linnea.

KTH-teknologer kallas

Osquar och Osqulda.

Om teknologen har obestämt kön betecknas denne Osquarulda.»

At almost every technical university in the Nordic countries, there are differ- ent names for female and male students. At two universities, there’s only a male name (Pelle in Umeå and Jens in Copenhagen). Only KTH has a name for a student with undefined gender.

Parallel to this discussion, I ask why we still are making a difference between Swedish and international students at KTH in our daily talk? With the same arguments as for female and male students, I believe that all students at KTH should be treated equally, independent of nationality. As KTH strives for higher rankings and more international students will come, I think that it is too bad that we are still talking about international and Swedish students as if there was a difference.

Until recently, THS has had one person to handle the international affairs for the student union, and eleven other persons to handle the rest of the organization. Just before Christmas, THS Board elected the (hopefully) last person to hold the position as Head of THS International. The goal is to, before the end of the year, fully integrate THS International into the rest of the organization activities. Utveckling genom avveckling!

So, to all of you that are working or studying (or both) at KTH –would you make a difference between female and male students? Would you make a difference between Swedish and international students? There is only one kind of student, right?

ANNA JOHANSSON PRESIDENT OF THS 2013/2014 ordf@ths.kth.se