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In Zurich they are part of the student body. In St. Gallen they would be part of the student body. Photo: trapezoidal
HSG “students” have long been “students” in Bern, Basel and Zurich
HSG student representatives are against gender-neutral spelling and argue that this would lead to costs in the five-digit range. The University of Bern renamed it two years ago without any problem, and economically.
Anyone studying at the University of St. Gallen (HSG) belongs to the student body and not to the student body. Anyone who thinks these terms are exactly the same is wrong. The difference is much greater than a few extra letters.
The “student body” is derived from the term “student”, a generic masculine word, a word whose masculine form includes the feminine. Theoretically. Actually, the longer the male generalization, the more frowned upon. In many places, gender equitable language is used. This is how students become students, a non-differentiating plural form that includes all genders.
Dispute over name change
But HSG student representatives have resisted this gender-neutral spelling for six years. Already in winter 2014 a dispute broke out in the student body board and parliament. The board wanted to change the name of the student body to student body and the student parliament to student parliament. The fact that this change had been associated with costs in the range of “four to five digit amounts” caused upset. So wrote the board in a Facebook post. The costs were then corrected to a maximum five-digit number before the passage was finally removed entirely from publication. At the time, Blick reported on the “HSG Zoff due to the puff genre”.
Now the argument is repeated again. And once again the student body exposes “procedural and material reasons” for rejecting the name change proposal. The chairman of the board estimated that there would be costs of 180,000 francs and an effort of 7,000 hours of work. This would correspond to 3.2 full-time positions for an entire year. When an editor of the student magazine “Prisma” wanted to question these costs in an article and advocated for gender equitable language on campus, he was gagged without further ado. His comment was removed from the newspaper. The «St. Galler Tagblatt ».
The name change in Bern was simple and cheap
Although the student representative at the University of St. Gallen sticks to the masculine generic, it has long since been discontinued at other universities. The student representation in Bern was renamed in 2018. From “StudentInnenschaft” to “StudentInnenschaft” at the University of Bern, abbreviated SUB. “The goal of the name change was to include all students at the university and meet their own demands for inclusive use of language,” says Natascha Flückiger of the SUB board of directors. Of course, this involved some effort. “But that did not stop the SUB from taking this step.”
Among other things, the name change included an adaptation of the website, email signatures and document templates; generally digital adaptations that could be done relatively quickly and easily. Furthermore, the signs in the university area had to be changed – according to Flückiger there were around 20 signs at 500 francs each – which was taken over by the University of Bern itself. When it comes to advertising and stationery, only minor additional costs were incurred. Flückiger reported: “The SUB is incomprehensible how the HSG student parliament has a cost of 180,000 francs.”
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At the University of Zurich, the Student Association has been committed to helping students since 1978. In 2012 it was renamed the Student Association of the University of Zurich (VSUZH). The fact that the term “students” was retained when the name was changed was not controversial at the time.
Isias Moser, VSUZH Co-Chair says these are socio-political issues that are definitely justified in a university setting. “Diversity and equality are important issues for us in everyday university life. It goes without saying that they also find their way into the language. ”
There has been no gender in Basel for 24 years
Also at the University of Basel no one has talked about the student body since 1996. At that time, the university statute was revised and the student body was renamed the student body, Skuba for short. Alissa Ditten, a member of the Skuba board of directors, says: “Because it was a long time ago when we were studying at the university, we don’t know exactly what the reason for the name change was. We assume, however, that the terms “students” and “student body” were no longer representative. ”
According to Ditten, the term “students” or “student body” is widely accepted at the University of Basel. Meanwhile, the neutral spelling has also spread to other names. So you no longer speak or write about the speakers, but about the speakers. “This form includes everyone, including trans people,” says Ditten. You can hardly imagine that changing the spelling in the HSG would result in a cost of 180,000 francs. “That seems a bit high to me.” However, she is unfamiliar with the HSG student body’s considerations. The cost breakdown is not public.
