First in Jena, then in Erfurt: Thuringian students have occupied rooms belonging to their universities twice in the past few days. The management of the universities are now ready for dialogue.
Erfurt/Jena (dpa/th) - After students at the universities of Jena and Erfurt have occupied a lecture hall or the library, the university management want to seek dialogue with the young people. As a spokesman for the Friedrich Schiller University Jena told the German Press Agency, there should still be a meeting between representatives of the students and the university management on Friday. No other measures - such as clearing the lecture hall - are currently planned.
A spokeswoman for the University of Erfurt said that the university management there had been in discussion with the students for a long time and wanted to keep it that way. This should also prevent young people from occupying the library again in protest.
At the University of Jena, students began occupying a lecture hall on Wednesday. They want to ensure that the chair for gender history there is retained. According to unanimous information from the university and the students, this occupation is still ongoing. The students wrote on Twitter that they wanted to start "occupation yoga" on Friday, the third day of their campaign. A lecture on the way to a free society was planned for the afternoon. The evening should end with a game night and music.
The library at the University of Erfurt was briefly occupied on Thursday. With the campaign, the students are turning against austerity measures at the university. This occupation has since ended.
Among other things, the university management in the state capital decided not to open the library on weekends until the end of the year in order to save energy. The number of visitors is very low on Saturdays and Sundays, said a spokeswoman for the university. In addition, on these days the library is mainly used as a workplace and less for reading. As a result, other jobs were created for students to compensate. Heating them saves more energy "than always starting up the whole library".
According to their own statements, the students do not want to accept this. They are demanding a commitment from the university management that the library will also be open again on weekends.
