The director of the library of the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts (HfBK) [Kunsthochschule Dresden] had run for a mandate in the district council election in Meissen, albeit unsuccessfully.
Several students protested against her employment at the university. Last Thursday, because of the case, there was a plenary session of the Student Council, which expressed resentment over the issue.
The following day, several students occupied the library and hang a banner from the window with the inscription: “HfBK or AfD. Both are not possible “.
Kurz nach 10 Uhr besetzten Studierende die Bibliothek der @HfBK_Dresden. Grund ist die Kandidatur der Leitung auf einer AfD-Liste. Unterstützung ist erwünscht. #dresden #fckafd pic.twitter.com/UF4MFSKIEM
— Alternative Dresden News (@addnme) May 29, 2019
Whether they wanted to express that the head of the library had to decide between her commitment to the AFD and her job, or whether the poster was addressed to the university management, to fire their employee, is not clear.
In a statement, however, the squatters said that the action was directed against the increasing acceptance of “right-wing radical positions”, not only at the HfBK. As cultural workers, they see themselves as responsible for pointing out that the AfD represents “extreme right-wing positions”.
The university administration, however, does not take their concerns seriously. The squatters claim that the transfer of personal data from students and lecturers who were critical of the AfD, could become a problem.
The library must be open to everyone, without fear that their own data would be passed on to a party that demonstrates together with militant neo-Nazis, they say. The students are therefore demanding that the university management take a positioning against “racist and inhumane” matters.
Rector Matthias Flügge defended the appointment of the library director and encouraged the students to conduct a “fair, argumentative discourse”. He welcomed “the political commitment of the students” and supported “open debates and artistic projects that express themselves politically in the sense of democracy and human dignity”.
Flügge added: “But the university is party-politically neutral and the private interests of its employees for political organizations do not concern us unless it is certain that the respective party is anti-constitutional.
“The head of our university library is a professional employee. At this level, I stand behind her and will not tolerate bullying. The fact that I, as a human, take a politically completely different path and also defend it, is another matter.”
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