Back to the Old Ways?

Abstract

The contrast could not be more glaring: whereas a good twenty-five years ago, the student movement, associated with names such as APO, SDS, and Rudi Dutschke, was at the head of the wave of internal political reform, students today are more in a state of political apathy. Thus in the universities, weariness with the state, with politics, and with the parties is manifested mainly in passivity and voting abstention—not unlike that which is evinced on the general political level. An average of only 20-30% of matriculated students and about 30-40% of the academic middle level participate in student meetings, in elections, e.g., to the student parliament, specialized boards and faculty councils, or even to the personnel council. Election participation is somewhat higher only when the students sense a threat to their wallets: thus, for example, the votes on the semester ticket (compulsory) for public transport brought over half of students to the ballot box. The discussion on student fees, or, in the case of ch...