While the term “ageism” is commonly associated with discrimination against older people, anyone can be discriminated against based on their age. This is why the FU Diversity Concept uses the category ‘age’ to underline the importance of working toward dismantling the myriad ways in which this type of prejudice manifests itself.

Age-related discrimination is prohibited at Freie Universität Berlin and is also regulated by the Berlin State Anti-Discrimination Act (Landesantidiskriminierungsgesetz Berlin, LADG) and the General Equal Treatment Act (Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz, AGG). These laws form the basis for definitions of discrimination that include putting upper age limits in place for services without an objective justification, as well as age-related insults and insinuations that a person is either too young or too old to have certain traits or carry out specific tasks. This type of attitude can pop up in job advertisements, for example, where phrases like “join a young, dynamic team” are commonplace. Assumptions like this can not only make people feel left out, but actively impede equitable participation in society.

However, differential treatment on the grounds of age can also be justifiable. Discounts for students and older adults are a typical example of measures that are designed to compensate for structural discrimination.

Freie Universität Berlin aims to create an environment for teaching, studying, and working in which people of every age feel safe and respected, knowing they can play an active role in university life and pursue personal development through equitable participation. This means providing support whenever discrimination occurs on an individual level as well as implementing sustainable structural measures to promote equal opportunities for everyone.

While the majority of the over 33,000 students at Freie Universität Berlin are between twenty-one and twenty-five years old, the small proportion of students who are under eighteen years of age (i.e., “minors” in the legal sense) has been consistently growing over the past ten years. In contrast, regarding employees, some offices are preparing for a significant generational shift, as the majority of administrative staff are between fifty and fifty-nine years of age. With a view to the increasing numbers of employees set to retire from the workforce in the near future due to demographic change, the university will soon face challenges in retaining important knowledge about processes, procedures, contacts, problem areas, and success factors that could otherwise be lost.