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Open Letter

On the opposite side of a road, you can see several tents on a meadow on the right. To the left, on the side of the road closer to the viewer, is a white office building with the orange inscription "FH Dortmund". In front of it are parking lots and a meadow. © TU Dortmund
The Students for Palestine Dortmund protest camp made demands against TU Dortmund University on 3 July in a speech on social media. The University Management was never contacted directly. In a personal email to the initiator of the camp on 4 July, the university nevertheless explained its position. We have decided to make this letter public.

Dear Students for Palestine Dortmund,

The war unfolding in the Gaza Strip following the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October is causing terrible suffering for the people in the region. We understand your horror at the victims in Palestine, but we are no less moved by the threat and terror against Israelis.

We too would like to see a world without the horrors of war, but we are not in a position to influence geopolitical events, neither in the Middle East nor in Ukraine. Whether human rights violations, war crimes or genocide – the evaluation and condemnation under international law does not lie with institutions such as universities. As an international community, what we can do is to treat each other with respect on campus and thus to contribute to living together in peace.

Help is therefore available to all members of the university, regardless of where they come from. Students and employees who are distressed by world events can also contact the Psychological Student Advisory Service at TU Dortmund University and FH Dortmund University. The Studierendenwerk (Association for Student Affairs) Dortmund provides counseling on financial aid. The Central Counseling Center SchuDS is open to anyone on campus seeking protection from discrimination – whether it be hostility against Islam, anti-Semitism or racism.

Information about the Middle East conflict and its consequences for people living together is provided at universities within the framework of existing specialist expertise.

We are obliged to commit ourselves to the well-being of all university members.

Note: In the original email, we wrote that the demands were made on social media in a speech on 28 June 2024. However, the video of the speech was only published on Instagram on 3 July, which we have corrected in this article.