Stockholm University issues 'clarification' on refusal of internship of student wrt NATO debates

A clarification was posted on the News page of Stockholm University yesterday concerning the problem a student from Türkiye faced on her application for internship at the psychology department of the university.

"It has emerged in Turkish and Swedish media that a person has applied for an internship. In connection with the refusal of the request connections were made to Sweden's Nato application.

"Our university should treat everyone equally and respectfully and do not accept discrimination on any ground.

"The university receives a great deal of inquiries from students interested in visiting us as interns. Unfortunately, we are unable to receive everyone, but expect that any request is responded to in a professional manner. In this case, an employee expressed himself in an unprofessional and unacceptable manner and as soon as we learnt about this issue we acted and handled it according to our routines. The employee in question is deeply regretful and realizes that he handled this issue incorrectly.

The university has also urgently apologized to the person and has already in December last year offered help in trying to find another internship at our university."

What happened?

Anadolu Agency (AA) reported that a professor from Stockholm University barred a Turkish student from attending an internship program over Sweden's NATO bid.

The agency reported that the issue was revealed by TRT World.

"TRT World, the English-language news channel of public broadcaster TRT, was granted access to the email sent by Per Carlbring, who leads a clinical psychology research group at the university," wrote AA.

Accordingly, Fatma Zehra S., a third-year undergraduate studying psychology at Istanbul's Ibn Haldun University, was accepted by an Erasmus+ fund for the summer 2023 internship at a university she would choose.

One of the internships she applied for was at Stockholm University in Sweden. On Nov. 23, Fatma sent an email to Carlbring, asking for participation in a research project led by him.

A few hours later, Carlbring replied: "I would love to host you. However, since Turkey does not allow Sweden to join NATO, I have to decline. Sorry!"

AA reported that Fatma registered a formal complaint, believing this incident could just be the "tip of the iceberg."

"If he did this to me, he would do this to other students with different racial backgrounds who apply to the university," she said.

The Turkish student filed a discrimination complaint with the university on Dec. 5, describing the professor's response as being "based on political considerations" and "discriminatory if not completely racist."

"Mixing a simple citizen and student – who wishes to pursue her studies in the best conditions possible – with the political stance of the government of the country she's from is an infamous way of thinking and judging one's skills and character," Fatma wrote in her complaint.

On Dec. 6, she got an answer from Torun Lindholm Ojmyr, the deputy head of the psychology department, apologizing for what happened.

Ojmyr said Carlbring admitted that his behavior was inappropriate and wrong, adding "several active measures are planned at the department going forward," including "training on equal terms and the Swedish Discrimination Act."

Despite the incident, her application was accepted by another psychology professor at the same university and she plans to go ahead with the internship this summer, according to AA. (PE)