What happened at the 18th Master’s Forum? Here is what you need to know

By María Juliana Rodríguez Urbano, Student Life Editor of The Graduate Press

On April 17, 2024, the Vice-President of Master’s Programmmes held the 18th Master’s Forum. This is an annual event where Master’s students can participate in a constructive discussion around topics regarding student life at the Graduate Institute and provide potential action points for advocacy. The list of items was drawn from inputs collected by GISA and class representatives through meetings and different means to reach out to the general student body. Here is an overview of the most pressing topics discussed during the Forum and the issues raised by students about them.

Sensitive content in classes and trigger warnings

One of the agenda items that saw the most student participation was the handling of sensitive content in class and trigger warning mechanisms that professors should consider when addressing such topics. This issue came up after an incident occurred in a first-year MINT course during the Fall 2023 semester, where sensitive content was shared with the students before starting the class. Although a trigger warning was provided before sharing the content, some students were disturbed that the class continued as normal and there was no time for discussion or reflection on what had been said. 

Other students also voiced their concern about other courses that had or are having similar issues during the Fall 2023 semester and this present semester (Spring 2024). There was also mention of instances such as a lack of clarification on the courses’ syllabi about the presence of sensitive content in a particular class. The VP of Master’s collected these concerns and concluded that there is a need for further elaboration of guidelines that professors can follow when sharing sensitive content without hampering the need to address difficult but relevant topics.

Decolonizing the curriculum and diversity in hiring procedures

Another agenda item that had a long debate during the Forum was the need to decolonize the Master’s curriculums and the hiring procedures of professors at the Institute, a topic brought by the Latin American Network Initiative (LANI) and the Middle East and North African Initiative (MENA). On the one hand, some students spoke about courses they were following this semester that included reading materials produced only by authors from the Global North mostly looking at issues from the Global South. Other students said that when asking their respective professors about diversifying their curriculum and including voices from the Global South, they were met with some reticence.

On the other hand, some students said they were surprised at the lack of diversity in the Institute’s Faculties, especially the MINT Faculty. Students from Latin America mentioned that they perceive a lack of representation for their region in the courses offered, the professors hired, and events the Institute holds of discussions around regional issues. In this instance, the VP of Master’s agreed with the students that GISA should engage in more talks with the Direction and Faculty Leads on ways to strengthen diversity on an academic level and reflect more accurately the diversity already present in the student body.

Housing Administration 

Finally, the situation with the Housing Administration also proved to be of great importance for students, who voiced their concerns about the staff’s treatment and the implementation of their internal procedures. Some students spoke about uncomfortable encounters with Housing staff where complaints like bug infestations and mistakes from the cleaning staff’s side (like forgetting to leave new bed sheets on a cleaning day, even if the old sheets were left on the floor per the Housing’s guidelines) were met with an apparent dismissal. 

Another point of discussion on this topic was the imposition of a high cleaning fee for using common spaces for hosting events, a situation brought up by different student initiatives. On this, the VP of Master’s said that GISA has been in constant contact with the Housing Administration the past week to address this and came to an agreement that does not negatively impact the student initiatives’ budgets, which are the ones using these spaces the most. The VP of Master’s also mentioned that GISA will continue this rapport with the Housing Administration, as complaints on this topic have been persistent for some time.

What is next?

After all the agenda items were discussed, the VP of Master’s thanked the students for their participation and said that their opinions would be collected on an anonymous basis for the drafting of a report that would be shared with the Direction in the coming weeks, to start working on an agenda of issues to address in future meetings between GISA and the Direction. For now, we invite you to be on the lookout for the VP of Master’s report and check the Forum’s agenda to read the rest of the agenda items.

Photo credits: María Juliana Rodríguez Urbano