Abolished civil clause | University of Kassel withdraws reports after eviction - police do not

The Kassel University was built on the ruins of the military Henschel factory. There was a protest there on Wednesday for the preservation of the civil clause. Stifling dissent with the police is a tradition at the university. Photo: dpa/Swen Pförtner The University of Kassel has withdrawn its criminal charges against the occupiers of a lecture hall. The university announced this on its website on Friday - albeit discreetly as an update to an earlier message about the eviction. The background was a protest against the Senate's decision to abolish the civil clause. Because of the occupation of the Campus Center on Wednesday afternoon, the university management filed a complaint of trespassing.

The police then cleared the lecture hall in question on Thursday night. Depending on the source, 100 to 200 people took part in the occupation. According to police, 40 people remained outside the building overnight.

On Wednesday, the Senate passed a second reading on a new version of the basic regulations - and thus de facto the repeal of the civil clause. The university is committed to “maintaining peace, avoiding war and strengthening the free-democratic basic order” in research, teaching and transfer. Because civilian and potentially military uses of research results can hardly be distinguished from one another, individual scientists should now be able to decide for themselves about military cooperation. According to the university, the preamble has the function of an appeal and is not legally binding.

With this vote, the Senate is overriding a student vote in which 82 percent were in favor of maintaining the civil clause in combination with an independent ethics commission. Only 17 percent voted for its abolition. Participation was almost 19 percent, significantly higher than the almost 15 percent in the previous university elections for the student parliament. The vote was organized by the General Student Committee (AStA) and the “Civil Clause Remains” initiative, which was founded in June. Back then, 600 of the approximately 21,000 students came to a general assembly.

Kassel has always been an armaments location and was therefore largely destroyed by the Allies in the Second World War. Large parts of the university were built after the war on the ruins of the bombed Henschel factory. To this day, long-established companies such as Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KNDS) produce close to the city center.

Companies such as Rheinmetall and Dedrone, which specializes in drone defense, have recently joined. Airbus Helicopters also has a factory in neighboring Wolfhagen. The sensor manufacturer Hensoldt also operates a logistics center for the Bundeswehr there.

Rheinmetall is now planning a “defense hub” in Kassel and has also opened a location at the nearby Kassel-Calden airport. KNDS has also started a cooperation with the Israeli partner Elbit. According to an internal working paper, both German companies are named as possible new partners of the University of Kassel. Concrete discussions are said to have already taken place with a company.

The university ended an earlier collaboration with Rheinmetall and the then company Krauss-Maffei Wegmann in 2023, citing their civil clause. Since then, only civilian companies from the region have been involved in the dual program “Study in a Practical Network”.

The new program, under which military research will be permitted again, will reportedly build on the existing PlusMINT. According to its own information, the university has raised funds for this from the state of Hesse as part of the “pro Dual” tender. We are talking about 600,000 euros in funding; However, this is not confirmed.

The Left Hesse criticizes the Senate's decision on the civil clause. »While massive cuts are being made at universities, billions are being spent on rearmament. It is a fatal mistake to look for a way out of this financial pressure in the arms industry," explained Desiree Becker, state chairwoman of the party in Hesse. Silvia Hable, deputy state chairwoman of the Die Linke Hessen party, adds: The decision also contradicts the University of Kassel's self-image as a location for sustainability and social-ecological transformation.

According to the police, the evacuation on Thursday night lasted three hours. The 47 people in the room at the time put up a lot of resistance, and six officers were slightly injured. Six people had sat down on an inside window ledge about five meters high and were taken down by special police forces. Three squatters are being investigated for assaulting law enforcement officers.

Hesse's Interior Minister Roman Poseck (CDU) described the events as a further example of radicalization on the left that should be countered "with all constitutional means." The Ring of Christian Democratic Students (RCDS) called for it to be checked whether the AStA had used funds from student fees for the campaign.

The AStA and the student initiative “Civil Clause Remains” criticized the police operation. A spokeswoman explained that those affected had to experience "how we at our own university were dragged out of the lecture hall with painful grips and also from the location of the registered rally." The “Zivile Uni Kassel” initiative made up of university employees condemns the eviction as an expression of authoritarian practices.

Bringing the police onto university campuses is also a tradition in Kassel. When the university was still a comprehensive university (GhK), the management had a student protest against an election campaign event by then Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel (FDP) cleared in the cafeteria in the “super election year” of 1994.

On the morning of November 27, 1997, the GhK called a hundred police to clear the car park K18, which had existed on its premises since 1989. The university wanted to build a park there with research and sports areas and had previously rejected negotiations about integrating the space or a replacement location.

Around 200 supporters tried to prevent the removal of the cars and their residents through a sit-in. The police took action against this with, among other things, mounted forces. Many people suffered broken bones, severe eye injuries and head wounds. The university later successfully sued for damages and charged the residents for the costs of their own eviction.

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