“We don’t want our university to be militarized” – students in Kassel are fighting for the civil clause

The University of Kassel has abolished its civil clause, the students do not want to accept that. In the interview, Lisanna Kelz from the Civil Clause Remains initiative talks about the occupation of lecture halls, the police operation, co-determination at the university - and what happens next.

What happened at the University of Kassel and how did the planned abolition of the civil clause come about?

The initial situation was that the Academic Senate, here at the university, was debating about changing the basic order, i.e. about abolishing the civil clause. A civil clause is a commitment by the university to research, teach and study exclusively for civilian and peaceful purposes, not for military purposes.

The civil clause at the University of Kassel has been in place since 2013; At that time it was also fought for by students. The whole thing was kept secret for a long time, so we only found out about it a few weeks before the planned change. It was also very clear from the executive board and the university management: There is no interest in a large-scale public discussion or debate about this. It should be passed quickly in the Senate, so to speak.

A central point of criticism for us is the professorial majority in the Kassel Senate. There are representatives of professors, students and employees there, but the latter two groups can be overruled at any time. Ultimately, the professors decide alone. On July 1, the Senate met to vote on repealing the Civil Clause.

You are against the abolition of the civil clause. How did you as students organize yourself against it?

We founded ourselves ad hoc as a student initiative a few weeks beforehand and then quickly called a general assembly, which was attended by over 700 students. There it was decided to hold a student vote. It was intended to make it clear how the student body feels about the civil clause being abolished. At this point, we also launched a petition, which over 2,400 members of the university signed directly. They have made it clear that they want a strong civil clause and that it should not be abolished.

Then there was the Senate meeting back in July in which the decision was to be made. There was a very long debate lasting over four hours. We submitted the petition and said: It is not possible for decisions to be made over the heads of students and employees. We want to be part of it when something so important is decided and the university is to be opened militarily. After much discussion, it was agreed to postpone the vote until November 4th.

In the meantime, we have organized ourselves widely: with events on the civil clause and an action week in which we provided information about the topic. We also held a student vote. Almost 20 percent of students voted over two weeks, a very high turnout for a university election. 82 percent of them were in favor of a strong civil clause.

There was also a petition among employees: 476 employees from the University of Kassel alone signed it, plus around 400 solidarity signatures from other universities. The signatories, collective bargaining employees, came from all departments. Particularly interesting: Signs were also signed in departments 14, 15 and 16, the engineering sciences, although there is a lot of debate there about future collaborations with the Kassel-based defense companies KNDS and Rheinmetall. In addition, 50 professors signed, that is one in six.

How did the university respond to this?

There was no discussion or publicity from the university. The only event that took place only came about after we put pressure on it, and all four speakers spoke out in favor of abolition. This was not a neutral debate, but rather a promotional event against the Civil Clause. Nevertheless, the result was clear: University members do not want the abolition.

For the vote in the Senate on November 4th, we announced a large rally in front of the Gießhaus, where the Senate meets. Over 500 people came and the rally started at 8:30 a.m. At around 11 a.m. the Senate decided to abolish it. Although the clause was reformulated as a “values ​​clause”, the word “civil” no longer appears in it. That is why we are clearly talking about abolition.

We then marched across campus in a spontaneous demonstration to publicly scandalize the decision and make it clear to everyone at the university that the civil clause has now been abolished. During the demonstration, Lecture Hall 1 was occupied. The occupation calls for the reintroduction of the civil clause, in a stronger form, with a binding, transparent and independent ethics commission. The students decided this in the ballot. We are also calling for a quarterly representation in the Senate so that student participation becomes seriously possible and decisions can no longer be made over our heads.

From the start, the university management called the police, who escalated the situation from the start. She immediately tried to evict the cast and continued to threaten to do so for hours. The police also took a very confrontational approach to the registered demonstration, which we strongly condemn.

Abolition of the civil clause: Police forcibly break up occupation of lecture halls in Kassel

How do you rate the actions of the university and the police?

We find it particularly shocking and impossible that the university management has used its house rules from the start to prevent student participation. Lecture hall occupations are a very traditional means of student protest. Nevertheless, the management decided right from the start to have the police evict their own students. The police initially appeared cautious and escalated again and again.

The occupation therefore demanded that negotiations only take place when the police behave in a de-escalatory manner. She addressed this and it became clear: the escalation is not our fault. Nevertheless, there were repeated threats of eviction. At some point the university management left the building. We assumed we would be able to spend the night in the cast. But at half past three in the morning, many emergency services arrived. First, they violently pulled people at the registered rally away from the door. One person fainted, others were pinned to the ground and dragged away. There were also reports of attacks and insults from police officers. This action against the rally and then against the occupation was completely disproportionate. The university management made this escalation possible.

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What is the mood among the students?

Despite everything, the mood was very good and combative, even if we were frustrated and angry at the same time: we weren't allowed anything and we couldn't keep the line-up. Immediately after the eviction on the morning of November 5th, we announced that we would meet at 3 p.m. in front of the Studi-Café to exchange ideas, stay in touch and discuss what would happen next. A lot of people came: 500 were at the rally, including many who had not been at the occupation or at the rally the day before. The mood was totally combative. That wasn't an end, we don't stop, we keep going. We want to be heard by the university management and have real student participation.

Afterwards we roamed the entire campus and the atmosphere lasted for a few hours. Just a few days later, social work students spontaneously occupied Lecture Hall 2 for a day: They simply stayed seated after the lecture because they needed a room to discuss demands together. I have the feeling that a spark is spreading across the entire campus. Many were encouraged to become politically active and to say more clearly: “We do not want our university to be militarized.”

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How should things continue now?

Our open meeting will take place on Wednesday. We hope that many people will get involved, because we want to decide together what we do next. Specifically, we want to join the big demonstration and youth strike on November 20th. A strike at the university is also on the cards.

Our demand is clear: the University of Kassel should get a civil clause again, and a stronger one. This should be voted on democratically by all university members; every vote counts equally. We are already networked with other groups nationwide. Many groups are currently organizing for the introduction of the civil clause or for its consistent enforcement at their universities. We want to fight together with them, including for the civil clause to be included in the higher education laws of the federal states. That is our perspective.

The Civil Clause Remains Kassel initiative is upInstagramto find. Every Wednesday she invites you to an open meeting.

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