University management answers your questionsQuestions and Answers on the Demonstrations against Prof. Dr. Bernd Lucke

22 October 2019, by Department of Communications and Public Relations

Events surrounding Prof. Dr. Bernd Lucke resumption of teaching duties have concerned students and staff at Universität Hamburg as well as the media. University management has been confronted with many questions which we have put together and answered below.

1. Why did the University, and University management, fail to ensure that the lecture on 16 October 2019 proceed without disruption or to enforce its House Rules?

The University had already consulted many times with police, a process in which Prof. Dr. Lucke was involved and present, and an agreed procedure was put in place. It was, and is, the view of the University, that given the number of people from outside the University, the University did not have the appropriate means to prevent disruption nor was the use of violence advisable. University management was in constant contact with the police. As an institution devoted to research and teaching, the University does not have expertise in directing security forces.

In order to allow the upcoming lecture by Prof. Dr. Lucke to proceed with as little disruption as possible, a private security company has been engaged to monitor entrance to the lecture hall. This is intended to ensure that only those students who are registered for the course may enter. Registered students will also have the opportunity to follow the lecture via livestream. These students have already been informed of these measures.

2. Were Prof. Dr. Lucke and the students safe?

Security staff analysis suggests that at no point was anyone present in any physical danger. The security plan was developed in close collaboration with the police and with Prof. Dr. Lucke.

3. According to media reports, there were no police in the lecture hall even though Prof. Dr. Lucke was faced with aggressive opposition. Why?

At no point was Prof. Dr. Lucke in any physical danger.

4. Did University management talk to Prof. Dr. Lucke before the lecture took place?

The University had agreed upon a procedure with the police and Prof. Dr. Lucke long before Prof. Lucke’s first lecture, and confirmed it several times. In addition, Prof. Dr. Lucke was informed before the lectures that he, as the lecturer and therefore organizer of the course, was responsible for the lecture and would have to discontinue it if the lecture hall became too full. Prof. Dr. Lucke did not follow this recommendation during the first lecture on 16 October 2019; rather, he stayed in the room, sitting among the students in his lecture.

5. How will you ensure that the lectures can proceed uninterrupted in the future?

The University is currently in consultation with the police, and has expanded its preventative security measures. This is intended to ensure, for example, that only those students who are registered for the course may enter.

6. Will there be criminal consequences for those people from outside the University who were in the lecture hall on 16 October 2019?

Charges have been filed against unknown persons for a range of offenses including damage to property, insult, coercion, and others. Criminal consequences will be decided upon by the public prosecutor.

7. To what extent does the University acknowledge the criticism that it could not guarantee academic freedom for Prof. Dr. Lucke’s lectures?

The Academic Senate of Universität Hamburg had already decided on 12 September 2019 to convene a working group for protecting academic freedoms, based on a suggestion made by the University president. The main task of this working group is to document and analyze any kind of encroachment on academic freedom and put forward strategies for combating these in the future. The president invited the working group to a constitutive meeting which will also address the controversy surrounding the first lecture by Prof. Dr. Lucke.

University management is emphatically committed to the view that disruptions to lectures are anathema to the fundamental protection of academic freedom. Differences of opinion at a university should be resolved using sound argument, discussion, and a search for consensus, not the exercise of violence of any kind.

8. Who has access to lectures at Universität Hamburg?

In addition to the teaching staff responsible for the course, only students enrolled in the relevant degree program and registered in our STiNE campus system are permitted to attend lectures. Lectures at Universität Hamburg are not open to people outside of the University.

Members of the press are also not allowed to attend. We cannot issue an accreditation or authorization to film a lecture by Prof. Dr. Lucke or any other professor, nor to film in the area in front of the lecture hall. Lectures that are part of normal teaching duties are not open to the public, and in accordance with the Hamburg higher education act (Hamburgisches Hochschulgesetz, HmbHG), only students have the right to attend these lectures. In addition, the presence of the media would strongly influence the lecture process and the confidentiality of the lecture and its attendees. This also applies to the areas around the lecture hall. Universität Hamburg must guarantee that students can move freely within the area protected by the University. This includes ruling out the risk of being filmed within University buildings.

9. Why was Prof. Dr. Lucke given a leave of absence, and why was this leave not extended?

There was no leave of absence. The rights and obligations arising from the employment of a civil servant elected to the European Parliament are automatically suspended for the duration of that posting without requiring an application for a leave of absence (Section 8 subsection 3 Members of the European Parliament Act in conjunction with Section 5 subsection 1 Members of the Bundestag Act). As Professor Lucke is a university teacher employed by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, this also applies to him.

As with any university teacher leaving politics, he returns to his professorship after serving in parliament. He therefore has the same obligations as every other university teacher, including engaging in research, teaching, and academic self-governance. The resources allocated to his professorship are consistent with the duties he is required to perform. In accordance with the teaching obligation regulation at institutions of higher education in Hamburg (Lehrverpflichtungsverordnung für die Hamburger Hochschulen, LVVO), his obligatory teaching load is currently 9 teaching hours.

10. Why were security precautions, and therefore also significant financial and other resources put in place for Prof. Dr. Lucke’s lecture on 23 October 2019?

The fundamental rights and duties of every university teacher include the right to freely conduct their academic work and teaching. The state is obliged to guarantee the exercise of these rights.

University management must therefore ensure that these lectures can take place, in consultation with politicians and regulatory authorities.

11. Why could Prof. Dr. Lucke’s lecture not take place on 23 October 2019?

Within the scope of its capacity, Universität Hamburg had taken extensive safety precautions to allow Prof. Dr. Lucke’s lecture to take place. A comprehensive security plan was developed in close consultation with the police and with private security firms who were present in large numbers. However, a university cannot act against the use of violence. In efforts to prevent protesters, some with their faces covered, from violently forcing their way into the lecture hall, 2 security staff members were injured.

The Executive University Board points out that establishing safety and order are not part of the educational mission of a state-run academic organization, and that it has reached the limits of feasible action on this front. Ensuring that universities and academia can fulfill their fundamental duties across Germany as a whole is a political matter and should be addressed at a governmental level.