Erfurt (dpa / th) – A support group of the lecture hall occupiers at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena has defended the action. “This lecture hall occupation did not come out of nowhere,” said a spokeswoman for the group “Friends of Gender History” on Wednesday. For months, the presidium of the university had refused the demand to speak about the future of the chair for gender history there. This led to a lot of frustration among the students. The occupation of the lecture hall was a reaction to this. “Students are trying to make themselves heard here.”
The students have occupied a lecture hall at the University of Jena since last week. They want to ensure that the chair for gender history is retained. According to the university’s previous plans, it is to be canceled by 2025.
According to their own statements, the group includes around 20 people who have been campaigning for the preservation of the chair for a long time. Among other things, they had started a corresponding petition, which recently received around 3,100 signatures.
At the same time, the spokeswoman for the group warned that the debate about occupying the lecture hall should not be restricted to the form of protest by young people. It is important to concentrate on the substantive concerns of the squatters. It is not only about the future of the chair, but also about better working conditions for the student and scientific staff at the university.
The university management has now offered the lecture hall occupants a seminar room to organize themselves. The condition for this, however, is that the occupied hall is left. Most recently, student representatives in the lecture hall said that there are currently no plans to end the occupation of the room.
