Students at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität occupied a lecture hall in the main building on Geschwister-Scholl-Platz on Tuesday morning and made demands on the university management. About 50 activists gathered in lecture hall 240, hung up banners and discussed the demands.
In order not to disturb the lectures, the squatters had waited for a break. The lecturer of the subsequent event showed understanding and moved his listeners to another room. The occupation was to last three whole days, and the students had also planned to spend the night in the hall. “Of course you have to see how long the university management lets us,” said a spokesman. However, this did not last long: at around 3 p.m. the police cleared the hall and the personal details of the activists were determined. However, the university does not want to file a criminal complaint for trespassing.
The university management called the occupation of the lecture hall an “illegal action” that represents a violation of the house rules. After more than two and a half years of the corona pandemic, the restored face-to-face teaching represents a high value for teaching. “The failure of a large lecture hall at the LMU during ongoing lectures cannot therefore be tolerated by the university management,” it said.
Education should be independent of parents’ background or bank balance
Several groups took part in the action, including various trade unions, but also the Anti-Fascist Action. The squatters divided their demands into three subject areas. In the “Social” section, they point out that 38 percent of the students lived on the poverty line and 30 percent in poverty. Therefore: “Education must be independent of origin, bank balance and educational standard of the parents.” Specifically, they are calling for a committee made up of students, the student union, the university and the city of Munich to deal with the construction of dormitories. The canteens should be more heavily subsidized to cushion inflation, public transport should be free for everyone. BAföG should be granted regardless of the parents’ income and without repayment.
The student body, abolished in 1973 by the Minister of Education at the time, Hans Maier (CSU), is to be reintroduced in university politics. As a result, the students as a whole would have their own body within the university and thus gain more influence than in the current system of student councils and faculty councils. In addition, the university should provide more space for independent political activities by the students and student self-government should be anchored in the statutes.
In the third complex of their demands, the activists deal with the role of the university in the fight against climate change – by 2035 it should become climate-neutral. This included the expansion of photovoltaics and solar thermal energy in the buildings, the termination of contracts with energy suppliers that generate energy and heat with fossil fuels, transparent information about the university’s energy consumption in a publicly accessible annual report, the demand for climate-friendly mobility and a plant-based and climate-friendly offer in the canteens.