On November 16 and 17, a discussion group on "Self-Organization of Matter" is planned at HAW. The organizers tried to post advertising for at the TUHH, but the permission needed for the display of posters was denied by our chancellor Klaus-Joachim Scheunert. We as AStA of the TU know well that posting permits are not granted in such cases.
As soon as an event seems even remotely political, it is met with vehement resistance here. We consider this approach to be extremely problematic.
For this specific case, the justification provided by the Präsidium is particularly questionable. The Präsidium argues that the organizers are subject to the "Marx Engels Foundation" and that they "do not support any political associations". However, the event is not subject to a mandate of the Marx Engels Foundation or any other political association,
nor does the event have a party-political character.
We believe that the reason given by the court in the subsequent summary proceedings, "that (general) political disputes in particular should be kept out of the university environment", is fundamentally misguided. Universities must be places of critical and constructive discourse. Especially we as a technical university, where humanities topics are unfortunately not part of the curriculum, have to promote such an exchange. However, such an exchange is and has been constantly prevented by the presidium, which has led to the now massively depoliticized student body.
This is sadly noticeable at all levels of student self-governance
.
That is why we demand: Political discourse should not be banned, but encouraged!
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for the extraordinary number of expressions of solidarity. They encourage us in our efforts for a politicized student body!