Works against harassment

Longing looks and whistling at the girls have led to complaints against the construction workers outside the Faculty of Social Sciences (SV). In addition to unwanted attention, general noise and shouting, together with using the students’ public areas, has been a problem.

– It is important that the teaching environment is good and that the construction workers show the students respect. Hence, we brought up the problem with the faculty board as soon as we started receiving complaints, says Heine Skipenes, leader of Samfunnsvitenskapelig studentutvalg (SVSU), the student union at the faculty.

Positive response

SVSU intervened when it became clear that several students perceived the workers’ behaviour as dubious and unpleasant. The director of the faculty, Gudleik Grimstad, has now raised the issue with the contracting company, Håndverksekspressen.

– It is important that none of the students feel insecure. That is why we wanted to bring this to attention as quickly as possible, and the response from the contracting company has been good. They have taken this seriously, and we now feel that the case is over and done with.

Went out to the construction site

Marianne Songli, head of administration at Håndverksekspressen, confirms that the company has taken the inquiry seriously, and says that they will address the matter more formally on the weekly company meeting on Wednesday.

– We have not received any specific complaints, but a general request from the faculty. The minute we received this, we went out to the construction site to talk to the workers, and reminded them to show consideration to the people who frequent the area. We don’t, under any circumstances, accept harassing behaviour from our employees. We also stressed how important it is to keep the noise level down at a university.

According to Songli, the workers did not agree with the complaints, but she points out that the company does not accept whistling and shouting, and crack down on it if it continues.