1. for better study conditions
1.1 Against Attendance Requirements
Attendance is currently compulsory in seminars. Attendance requirements jeopardize free and self-determined learning. There are many life situations that make permanent, uninterrupted attendance difficult. This results in disadvantages for these students. A large proportion of students work alongside their studies in order to be able to finance them. Other students do care work: they care for their parents or look after their children. These double or triple burdens become even more difficult to coordinate due to compulsory attendance and can ultimately lead to students dropping out of their studies. That is why we are campaigning for the compulsory attendance requirement to be abolished at RUB. Furthermore, we demand that all teaching content must generally be made available online in order to ensure fair and equal access for all students.
1.2 Accessibility
The accessibility of the campus and of (online) events for lectures and seminars should be expanded. There are many obstacles that prevent students from participating equally in everyday university life. By this we do not only mean removing the many structural barriers on the university campus. We also want accompanying materials – such as lecture notes or lecture slides – to be accessible to all students and to be available in an accessible form. Last but not least, all university policy events such as the meetings of the StuPas and committees must be accessible to everyone. The same applies, as far as possible, to all AStA events. We have therefore already successfully demanded and implemented the accessibility of minutes in the StuPa.
1.3 Technical equipment at the university
Nowadays, a good IT infrastructure is essential for successful studies. We are therefore calling for a stable, comprehensive Wi-Fi network across the entire campus. Another problem is the currently still very low number of power sockets in many classrooms, unfortunately also in the more modern buildings such as the GD. Without sufficient power sockets, it is impossible to think about everyday university life with a laptop and other electronic devices. Especially on long unit days, the battery of many electronic devices is not powerful enough. For this reason, all lecture and seminar rooms should be equipped with significantly more sockets. In addition, the online services are completely inadequate: almost everyone at RUB has already experienced several outages of Moodle, RUB-Mail etc., which regularly affect everyday study life.
1.4 Studying with a child
Studying with a child is a particular challenge. Mothers in particular are at risk of having to suspend their studies if they are caring for children at the same time. We are therefore committed to providing the university’s kindergarten with sufficient resources to be able to look after the children of all students who need it. As mentioned above, the abolition of compulsory attendance is also a building block in this regard, as is the expansion of digitally accessible teaching content so that students can study from home.
2 Digitalization
2.1 Digital offerings outside of lectures
We strive for digitalization in all areas of everyday university life. This also includes expanding the digital services offered by the libraries. We support the ongoing complete digitization of book collections so that content can be accessed from anywhere. We also call for a central media library with all publicly accessible content from RUB and the organizations to which it belongs, such as the members of the University Alliance Ruhr (TU Dortmund University and University of Duisburg-Essen).
2.2 Student Parliament website
Now that the StuPa website has been extensively revised under our pressure, we are calling for further improvements. The StuPa’s other public relations work is still catastrophic: many students are not even aware of the parliament and only look askance during election week. To improve this, we need active social media channels in addition to an up-to-date website. We demand transparency about StuPa work through effective public information, education and invitations. This also includes communicating individual decisions. Anyone interested should be able to understand how the StuPa works without much effort.
2.3 Laptops for everyone
During the coronavirus pandemic, the university offered to lend laptops to students so that everyone has better opportunities to study from home. This option should be retained and expanded further if necessary. This should be of particular benefit to students who cannot afford their own devices or can hardly afford them.
3. anti-racist and anti-colonial university
Ruhr-Universität is an international university, but in its current form it is not a non-discriminatory space for racialized people. Many of these students experience everyday racism and other discriminatory behavior in the institutions, cafeterias or events.
3.1 Safe spaces at the university at last!
Members of ethnic and religious minorities currently have hardly any places to retreat to at university. A safe space offers protection from discrimination, enables the exchange of experiences and promotes important networking within marginalized groups. We therefore call for the establishment of several safe(r) spaces for marginalized students and employees of the university. These could be conceptually based on the Lieselle Women’s Library and designed as an anti-racist and anti-colonial library. We welcome the establishment of the Room of Silence, which is open to members of all religions and atheists for inner reflection. In general, events that aim to promote joint dialog and the coexistence of students should be promoted and expanded, especially by the AStA.
3.2 Anti-racism work at the university
Not only student coexistence, but also research and teaching at RUB must be critically scrutinized. One focus of university policy work should be to raise awareness of and combat racism and other forms of group-based misanthropy. This includes the critical educational work of the AStA and the reflection of the curricula of each degree program. Every student should receive opportunities to understand and deconstruct their own racism. Only in this way can any discrimination be revealed and specifically clarified or, where necessary, combated. A holistic strategy also includes serious reporting and advice centers for students when lecturers or fellow students spread inhumane content. We therefore welcome the creation of the position of a discrimination officer for RUB. We also call for a student contact point. Finally, we advocate the introduction of anonymized exams in order to exclude possible unconscious discrimination in the evaluation.
4. for a critical RUB!
As the Left List, we want to advocate critical teaching and science at RUB. Universities must be places of reflection and questioning of the status quo. After all, scientific knowledge should improve the lives of all people and not be guided by social interests or power relations. We are also committed to ensuring that university policy is accessible to all. RUB students should be given the opportunity to contribute their suggestions and ideas.
4.1 Political education
University policy work must not only raise awareness but also provide far-reaching political information and education. In order to achieve this goal, we want to offer appropriate political education events. We find the current program of the AStA insufficient for this. We therefore want to reintroduce the „Political Tuesday“ (PolDi), a regular, critical lecture series in the KulturCafé. There, students can educate themselves and discuss social issues in a pleasant atmosphere.
4.2 Strengthen cooperation with socially critical initiatives
There are already many students at the Ruhr-Universität who are involved in socially critical initiatives, particularly at the university (DGB university group, TVStud, social medicine, plural economics). We will support these as AStA. We also want to show solidarity with anti-fascist movements beyond the campus boundaries. We also want to actively promote student networking and your commitment. We want to approach you and your initiatives instead of just waiting and seeing.
4.3 Maintaining the civil clause
Since the new Higher Education Act was passed in the winter semester 19/20, universities can decide for themselves whether they want to include a civil clause in their basic regulations. A civil clause is a voluntary commitment to conduct research exclusively for civil and peaceful purposes. A corresponding article has been included in our university’s constitution since 2015. We want to continue to campaign for the preservation of the civil clause at RUB.
5 Stop right-wing and reactionary activities
5.1 Anti-discrimination
We as LiLi are against anti-Semitism, racism and sexism as well as any other form of discrimination and are in favor of a university in which everyone can participate. We see ourselves as openly anti-racist and therefore organize or support demonstrations and events against the right, such as the action weeks against anti-Semitism and (hopefully soon again) the critical introductory weeks.
5.2 opposing the right
Unfortunately, there are also organizations in Bochum that represent nationalist and neo-right-wing views. Both the „AfD“/“Junge Alternative“ and the Identitäte Bewegung IB are regularly active in Bochum and are well networked with the extreme right-wing fraternity „Verein deutscher Studenten VDSt-Breslau zu Bochum“. The fraternity Prager Arminia in Bochum operates under the umbrella organization Deutsche Burschenschaft DB, which has repeatedly discussed Aryan heritage requirements for its members and is just as frequently confronted with accusations of right-wing extremism. Equally worrying are the recent outings of active members of the neo-Nazi association „Hammerskins“; people outed in this context were even employed by the city of Bochum until last year. To counteract this, the Left List supports anti-fascist research and initiatives in Bochum, such as the Open Antifa Café.
5.3 Implementing anti-fascism consistently
We therefore want to take a strong stand against inhuman ideas and expand political education at the university. We will promote film evenings, discussion groups, reading circles and events for intercultural exchange, as well as existing cooperation with organizations such as „RUB bekennt Farbe“. To this end, we will re-establish the „Department for Applied Human Rights“ within the AStA. As AStA, we want to take right-wing and reactionary activities seriously as a threat and deal with them responsibly and consistently. Among other things, we have already cooperated with the VfL Bochum fan project to organize events on anti-racism and anti-Semitism.
No foothold for fascism!
6 Feminist AStA
6.1 Strengthen equality in the faculties
Discrimination against people on the basis of their gender unfortunately also determines everyday working life at RUB. Although there are as many female students as male students, there are far fewer female professors than male professors. Especially in faculties such as mechanical engineering or in the natural sciences, there are few female professors or research assistants. We want to actively support the RUB’s target agreements on gender equality in order to change this situation.
6.2 Implementing feminism in teaching
In medical studies, students have hardly any opportunities to learn how to perform abortions. In addition, numerous studies in medical research are primarily based on male participants. As a result, risks and differences in the treatment of women and other genders remain unrecognized and specific clinical pictures such as endometriosis remain unresearched. In other degree courses, too, the focus is usually on male perspectives, which influence the content and focus of teaching. We want to campaign for abortions and gender-sensitive knowledge to become an integral part of medical studies. We also want to raise awareness of gender relations in historiography by participating in campaigns such as „womens history month“.
6.3 Strengthening initiatives and projects for (gender) justice
Because sexualized harassment and discrimination also occurs at universities, we as the AStA would like to carry out more projects such as the week against sexism or campaigns against queer hostility. This includes events in which we network with other feminist groups, as we have done in the past with Catcalls of Bochum. Initiatives such as the student women’s library Lieselle should continue to be supported. We also think it is important that the Autonomous Queer Feminist Department and the Gay Department exist. Not only should such issues be given more presence in university politics, we also want to show solidarity with other feminist campaigns. For example, we signed the open letter to the Schumacher Club in Bochum, which drew attention to sexual assaults in the club. We have also supported the Equal Opportunities Officer’s statement on gender-sensitive language and the events surrounding the feminist campaign day. We very much welcomed the introduction of a free supply of hygiene products in all toilets, which should be maintained. Finally, we demand the reintroduction of a gender-quorated list of speakers in all student committees, after the AStA abolished this in the StuPa.
6.4 Combating queer hostility
Queer people who do not fit into the binary heterosexual norm experience discrimination time and time again. It is important to us to include these perspectives and fight against patriarchy together! We want to offer and expand contact points and information opportunities for trans*, non-binary and intersex people, for example to change their name on their student ID. We would also like to establish gender-neutral toilets and increase awareness and acceptance of gender and sexual diversity. We would also like to cooperate with existing university groups and, in addition to campaigns against queer hostility, offer cultural events to create safe(r) spaces, such as queer movie nights or parties.
7 Student co-determination
A university lives from its students! At RUB, however, we are often treated like unwelcome guests by professors and the administration. That is why we are campaigning for more self-managed rooms, a fairer distribution of seats in the Senate and better working conditions for student employees.
7.1 Transparent AStA
In order for all students to be able to participate competently, the framework conditions must also be right: Transparency and accessibility are currently still given far too little attention at RUB. We are therefore calling for technical solutions for the transmission and publication of StuPa and committee meetings. Every person who finances and supports the AStA should also be given the opportunity to easily follow the decisions and have a say in them. Any uncertainties about how to get involved in student self-administration should be eliminated. The reduction of hierarchies plays an important role here. Commitment to the student body and university politics should not depend on offices. The AStA must be a strong political representation of all students and must not see itself solely as a service AStA. We want a more transparent approach to current research and the allocation of third-party funding as well as an information policy from the AStA that goes beyond craft tutorials and eSports results. This also includes consistently dealing with violations of the Rules of Procedure and reintroducing the right to verbatim adoption in the StuPa.
7.2 NRW state student council meeting (LAT)
Ultimately, study conditions are not only determined at the university, but also in state politics. We therefore demand that the AStA takes a clearly positive position on the LAT NRW (the only legitimized state-wide representation of the interests of the student bodies in North Rhine-Westphalia) and commits itself to making an appropriate financial commitment as a registered member of the association. At a time when solidarity and togetherness should take precedence over power-political favors, an intensive commitment to the LAT is essential.
7.3 Fight for your right to party(cipation)
The RUB not only has some deficits in terms of appearance, but also in terms of student participation. We understand participation to mean something other than thoroughly commercialized Mensa parties that flop every year. We also sorely miss the summer party! Since the dissolution of the student archive, there are hardly any student-managed rooms at the university. That has to change! We need to invest more in spaces and opportunities that give students the chance to help shape university culture freely and independently. That’s why we say: Fight for your right to paaaaaaaarty(cipate)!
8.for a sustainable university
An ecological and sustainable lifestyle in everyday life is a necessary piece of the puzzle in the fight against climate change. However, climate justice and the issue of sustainability must never be the sole responsibility of the individual! As one of the largest employers and a formative institution in the region, Ruhr-Universität must play a pioneering role in the fight against the destruction of the foundations of life.
8.1 Promoting ecological projects
We welcome the activities of Students for Future as a positive signal at the university. Unfortunately, RUB only works sustainably and ecologically when individuals or initiatives invest time and energy in projects. Nonetheless, the Repair Café, the cooperation with metropolradruhr and the Library of Things are the first good steps in the right direction, which we want to see through to the end.
A system-critical perspective geared towards averting the global climate crisis must be established, particularly in teaching and the range of events on offer. The inseparable link between man-made climate change and capitalism must be consistently pointed out. The extent to which green roofs and façades are sensible and possible in order to promote biodiversity should also be examined. To this end, the thorns in the side of the student body must also be tackled: For years, the traffic circle in front of G-Row has remained unused, with only the food trucks finding a parking space there. Real progress requires courage and the will to change, which the current AStA has never shown. We are also in favor of photovoltaic systems on the roofs of the RUB. The AKAFÖ also has some catching up to do: the open-plan kitchen is currently still increasingly working with mold poducts and the good old deep fryer. Furthermore, we speak out against the littering of the campus with commercial posters or promotional gifts, which the university should urgently put a stop to.
8.2 Climate clause now!
Similar to the civil clause, we want the university to adopt a climate clause. We will be an ecological voice in the canteen plans and cafeteria offers, because these can also be realized cost-effectively with regional (organic) vegetables and animal-friendly products. We also welcome the fact that the StuPa’s Ecology Committee continues to meet regularly and demand that the AStA presents a sustainability concept.
9. finances and housing
Capitalism does not stop at students in Bochum: the framework conditions for studying in terms of the financial and housing situation are increasingly deteriorating. We are therefore committed to expanding affordable and available student housing, criticizing the BAföG guidelines and making studying affordable and socially acceptable for everyone. We also actively support efforts to introduce a collective agreement for student employees (#TVStud) in NRW.
9.1 Affordable studies for all
In order to improve the financial situation of students, we want the AStA to campaign for a parent-independent BAföG that is not linked to adherence to the standard period of study. We do not want to continue to accept that the social background of students is a decisive factor in their admission to and success at university. Another point here is the study conditions at the RUB itself, which often require students to make additional payments for learning materials and the purchase of expensive textbooks. Financially disadvantaged students in particular must therefore be given special support at our university. The AStA should also start to take a public stand on issues such as BAföG and fight for the interests of disadvantaged students.
9.2 Stop rent madness!
The lack of student housing in Bochum is also causing a tense situation for many students: we regularly hear about long searches for accommodation, high rents and other concerns. The AKAFÖ operates over 4,000 accommodation units in Bochum at affordable prices. Unfortunately, it has become apparent that this supply is not nearly sufficient and the waiting lists for halls of residence are long. Both the city of Bochum itself and the AKAFÖ are increasingly relying on neoliberal, unjust solutions: this can be seen, for example, in the rising rents of the VBW as a municipal housing association or the construction of a „luxury hall of residence“, which charges an absurd €600 for a 20 square meter apartment. We also find it unfair that this hall of residence is advertised as a contact point for foreign students, as they also have a right to affordable four walls. We would like to take a stand against the AKAFÖ in order to put an end to their classist housing policy and create socially acceptable solutions. We would also like to strengthen our cooperation with the tenant protection association in Bochum in order to make students more aware of the advice and support they offer.
9.3 AStA budget
There are also starting points within student self-administration to improve the financial situation of students. These include a close examination of the AStA budget, which in some cases includes high expenditure on questionable projects. At the same time, we demand that the current budget audits of the AStA of recent years be brought to an end as quickly as possible. For example, the AStA dance courses cost around €45,000, even though there is a wide range of cheaper university sports on offer at the same time. While leisure events take up a lot of money, important positions in other departments remain vacant. We also want to demand more transparency from the AKAFÖ in this regard in order to better understand the distribution of funds: The contribution to the Studierendenwerk is one of the highest in the whole of Germany.
10. cheers to international solidarity!
A lot is happening in the world – dictatorships on the rise worldwide, burning forests, isolation at the EU’s external borders, a shift to the right in Germany and ongoing conflicts in war-torn regions such as Ukraine, Israel and Palestine or Rojava.
The corona pandemic [N2] has shown us once again that all these global issues also concern us and how important solidarity is beyond the borders of the university, our city of Bochum and Germany.
We want events on global issues, solidarity demonstrations and strong left-wing alliances in Bochum. Tuition fees for foreign students must not be an issue, and we want to expand the AStA’s social services as required. Our cultural and educational program should be pluralistic and accessible to everyone. The AStA should finally become a place of networking where international solidarity is lived and organized. RUB should be a place of encounters and togetherness where discrimination and misanthropy have no place!
Furthermore, our university must not contribute to global suffering and must not become a think tank for arms companies! We will therefore continue to campaign for compliance with the civil clause at RUB. Unfortunately, none of this is possible with the current „apolitical“ AStA. The AStA should finally become a loud voice of the student body and its interests again. Therefore: Vote for the Left List to achieve a modern, enlightened and fair university! Cheers to international solidarity!
The Linke Liste is a non-party alliance list. We see ourselves as consistently anti-fascist, anti-racist, anti-capitalist, emancipatory, queer-feminist and in solidarity. We try to offer every person who feels connected to these values a university political home. In order to achieve this, we have been fighting side by side with various political groups and initiatives in Bochum since our foundation. We also organize political education and event formats as well as pub evenings and leisure events for left-wing students in Bochum.
We fight against all forms of discrimination at university and for better studies. With this in mind, we are particularly committed to ensuring that access to university is made possible for all interested parties. We want to form a political AStA that proactively represents the interests of students and takes a public stand. Our open list meeting takes place regularly on Monday evenings, for time and place you can contact us on our social media channels.
– Vote for the Left List –
Election to the 56th student parliament
04.12.-08 .12.2023
Instagram: www.instagram.com/linke_liste_bochum/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/lilibochum
Website: www.lili-rub.de
Email: kontakt@lili-rub.de