Controversy around container village on university grounds

Controversy around container village on university grounds

The property on Thielallee 63 in Berlin-Dahlem, which is currently being used as a parking lot, is the focus of a controversy. The Senate plans to build a container village for 260 refugees on this area, which meets resistance. The Free University, which actually wants to build a building for teaching and research there, feels over. The President of the University, Günter Ziegler, emphasizes that the university management did not agree to this measure and learned from the Senate plans from the newspaper.

FU Berlin had already helped in the past to accommodate refugees in the past and emphasized that it was fundamentally willing to support refugee people within the scope of their opportunities. However, the university pointed out that it urgently needs the area for its own construction work. Instead, the FU proposes to use empty buildings nearby for refugee accommodation.

At the end of March, the Senate decided to build 16 other container villages in Berlin in order to counteract the housing shortage for refugees. This creates pressure on noble districts such as Steglitz-Zehlendorf, where another container village is planned. These decisions lead to discussions and mockery on the net about the attitude of the FU Berlin, which is otherwise considered cosmopolitan. Critics accuse the university of not acting consistently in refugee accommodation and questioning their values.