Dear Forestry Students,

We are writing this communication in response to the events that took place at the "Faschismus im Forst" ("Fascism in the Forest") lecture on Thursday, July 13, 2023 in Tharandt. The technically interesting lectures on a very important complex of topics were well attended, which pleased us all greatly. Unfortunately, during the course of the lecture, the WHAT Department distributed stickers with the inscription "Forstlich - Akademisch - Faschistisch" ("Forestry - Academic - Fascist"), which were perceived by numerous members of our faculty as a direct accusation against an entire discipline. The small-print link, which referred to the "ausgefuxt" publication and was supposed to mark this as an attack on the student fraternities in Tharandt, was hardly noticeable. As a result, these misguided "Mobi-stickers" hit the broad mass of Tharandt students and lecturers. The consequences of this action extend far beyond the university campus, as the image thus created has already spread beyond Tharandt. The statement from the WHAT department dated July 19th, does not satisfy us, as it relativizes the originally expressed apology in the course of the letter.

Furthermore, we call on the Student Council to ensure, through personnel consequences in this department, that widespread defamation, whether as collateral damage to an entire faculty or targeted at individual students, is not waved off as a trifle.

We hope that this matter will be addressed quickly and decisively and that no further steps will be necessary.

Kind regards,

Your Forestry Student Representative Council (FSR Forst)

Statement WHAT

Download the position paper as PDF (German)