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Hedda Widahl (23) feels discriminated against by the Christian private school. Editor Vebjørn Selbekk thinks the students have gotten too hairy.
Hedda Brita Beata Widahl is 23 years old and is studying to be a teacher at the private Christian university NLA. In an interview with Vårt Land, Widahl says she feels discriminated against by the school.
The trigger for Widahl is that NLA Høyskolen has hired new student pastor Jens Fredrik Brenne, who became famous after he declared that “God does not like it, so to speak” in a debate about gay living.
Furthermore, it refers to the fact that it is established in the NLA Høyskolen value base that the norm for coexistence is between a man and a woman. Widahl herself describes herself as an unbeliever and is queer.
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– Scary
– How do they discriminate against you?
– The NLA announces that they are a private Christian university and that they are based on Christian values. But everyone is welcome. That’s not the feeling I have left, Widahl tells Nettavisen.
He considers that he does not belong to an educational institution that “the ethics of coexistence is based on a man and a woman.”
– We will be taught to know the diversity of students in the school. Therefore, it is encouraging that the values document and the employment of a student priest convey to students attitudes that being queer is not okay. I’m a fag and something’s wrong with them.
The settlement against the school began with a post on Instagram. Read it below.
Read more: Statue of Norwegian war hero and opponent of slavery demolished by activists in the US.
She believes that there are more homosexuals in the school asking for a safe learning environment with inclusion and respect.
– But this is a private Christian school, and for many Christians, is it marriage between a man and a woman?
– Yes. It is a Christian school based on values. But when I made the decision, I did not know that this was the prevailing attitude towards homosexuality. I never thought I would encounter this problem in a teacher training school.
Widahl believes that discrimination itself is based on the attitudes that are passed on to students.
– I think that when the school helps to build under such attitudes, it is unacceptable, he says.
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– External thinking
Editor Vebjørn Selbekk of the Christian newspaper Dagen believes that it is a sign of the times that students complain about things that they previously had no problem with.
– This shows how extreme American universities think on the way to Norway. It also appears that some Norwegian students expect “safe spaces” where they do not meet people with other attitudes and opinions. It’s troubling, Selbekk tells Nettavisen.
EXTERNAL: Dagen’s editor Vebjørn Selbekk believes that the ideas of Widahl and other students represent an “extreme import from the United States.”
Photo: Trond Lepperød (Nettavisen)
In particular, he thinks Widahl may not have followed the class when, after all, he attends a private Christian college.
– I am concerned that we will have a student body that will be snowflakes. We see it in several other cases, like the case of the German joke. When you have finished your education and go out into the rest of society, you must be prepared to face other attitudes than your own, he says.
The so-called “German prank case” came up at the University of Bergen, where a professor joked that Germans had been here before, at a conference on German tourists. A student of German origin was offended and warned the teacher. The student eventually received compensation like a wound patch.
– I think it is quite strange that this student is so concerned about the student pastor when she herself is not a believer. There is good reason to believe that she will not be a major user of the student pastor’s services, she says.
Selbekk believes that everyone should be more generous to others and allow people to have different attitudes. Be it marriage, Christian values, or other controversial topics.
– People should be allowed to be more than their attitudes in a particular area. If we continue like this, we will strive to work together in the future. It’s depressing that the environments that are supposed to be more progressive are themselves more critical, he says.
Read more: The bishop apologizes for the parish priest’s confirmation speech
– Don’t listen to us
The online newspaper confronted Widahl with Selbekk’s claims. She fully agrees that one should be tolerant of other opinions and attitudes, and that it is important that people are exposed to different points of view.
– That’s why I did my master’s degree in religion. I think it is important to have knowledge about diversity. It is important to me that they challenge me, but I believe that the NLA with its document of value and employment does not allow diversity.
– So Selbekk is not right that this is a sign that the students have gotten hairier?
– No, I completely disagree with that, and I’m not the only one to react. Many students, Christians and non-Christians, find this problematic. Then he must be allowed to try to influence the school to make a change. This student commitment should be recognized by the principal, rather than asking us to find another school, he says.
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