Uni-ärger: No space for refugees at the FU Berlin

Uni-ärger: No space for refugees at the FU Berlin

On the fallow unibles on Thielallee 63 in Berlin-Dahlem, the Senate plans to build a container village to accommodate 260 refugees. However, this encounters resistance, especially in the Free University of Berlin. The university sees the opportunity to build a building for teaching and research on the site and feels over the same. The President of the FU, Günter Ziegler, complains that the university management was not inaugurated in the measure and emphasizes that the area will be required for its own construction projects from 2023.

FU Berlin had already provided support for the accommodation of refugee people in the past, but pointed out that the area was required for its own construction projects after 2023. The university proposes to use empty buildings of the Federal Real Estate Agency nearby as an alternative accommodation.

The Senate decided at the end of March to build 16 other container villages because the need for accommodation for refugees in Berlin is high. Despite some challenges, these locations were approved because there are still too little living space for refugees. The planned locations for the new container villages mainly focus on the eastern part of the city, which reinforces the imbalance in the distribution of refugees in the districts.

In social media, FU Berlin is criticized for its resistance to the container village. Some users indicate the need for decentralized accommodations and question the supposedly cosmopolitan and tolerant attitude of the university. This discussion raises the question of whether the former pioneering role of the FU Berlin is crumbling through the current conflict in terms of tolerance and openness.