VOTE NOW FOR LIST "DIE STUPERT:INNEN FÜR PARTIZIPATION UND TRANSPARENZ"
EVERYTHING BACK TO THE BEGINNING ...
In the meantime, the current legislature has turned into its home stretch. And everything starts all over again: StuPa, FSV’ and the senate are newly elected. And we, as a list, are once again taking on the task of continuing our work. Because there is still a lot to do. Here you will find the contents of last year’s campaign, which will also be valid for the next term. In addition, you will find a short report on how the current legislature went, see the corresponding menu item.
We can say that we were able to bring about a few relevant changes in the statutes and the electoral regulations as well as further improvements, with the votes of all the other lists due to the really constructive cooperation from March onwards:
WHAT WE HAVE ACHIEVED SO FAR.
We have removed the rule that the members of the StuPa presidium must come from the ranks of the StuPa. This means that, in principle, external members can now also be elected to the presidium. In addition, half of the members of a StuPa committee no longer have to come from the ranks of the StuPa. This also considerably increases the participation opportunities for non-StuPa members. In addition, committees can now be assigned competences if necessary, which can increase both effectiveness and efficiency in the StuPa.
It happens again and again that student programs/subjects are without representation. This can be due to the date of the elections, for example. To ensure that such student programs/subjects are not completely without representation and financial possibilities, we have created a level below the regularly elected student representatives, namely that of the “Beauftragte”. This primarily takes into account other scheduling needs when electing representation. In this way, first-year students in particular can get involved as representatives in unrepresented student councils.
Due to our applications, both the student subject body “Performing Arts/Theatre” and the student program body “Social Sciences”, which will be enrolled in for the first time next autumn, were founded at an early stage. Thus, the former can now elect their student representatives and the latter at least directly at the start of their studies their “Beauftragte” (see above).
We deleted the rule according to which the StuPa issues the rules of procedure for all student bodies. Not only was this a waste of parliamentary time in our eyes, it was also an unjustified interference in the working autonomy of the individual committees, which know best how to organise themselves well. At the same time, it was stipulated that all rules of procedure must meet minimum democratic standards.
We have clarified in the statutes that the central areas (especially the StuPa and AStA) are not authorised to issue instructions to the student council bodies, as is also enshrined in the Higher Education Act. We have also strengthened the position of the student council (after it gave itself rules of procedure) and helped the student council bodies as a whole to get a lot more money in cooperation with the AStA finance board. Finances are now more in line with the size of the student council bodies, without affecting solidarity among them.
Thinking and living studies differently with more participation and transparency
OUR ELECTION PROGRAMME
Our programme points are to be implemented partly in the StuPa or in other parts of the student body and partly in the senate. We are running or will run for all relevant bodies. There are positions for which there is no direct election by all students, but within a committee. For example, the chair of the student representatives’ conference is elected by the student representatives’ conference, i.e. the assembled student representatives, while the AStA board and the student representatives are elected by the StuPa.
You can find out more about us under – Surprise! – About us. 🙂
If you want more participation, you have to actively take care of it. In the committees, on the other hand, the idea has prevailed to date that it is enough to wait for interested parties instead of actively approaching them. This task must also be anchored structurally.
Online elections must be made permanent and binding ballots introduced. The electoral committee and the electoral review committee must become permanent bodies so that they have more time to prepare elections intensively and to moderate a genuine substantive election campaign.
The subisdiarity principle must also be further developed.There are limits, of course. Of course, there are limits. No one can expect current office-holders to devote themselves exclusively or primarily to the acquisition of new members. Nevertheless, far too little is currently being done in this regard.
Backroom diplomacy is so 80s! Procedures must be transparent and accessible to all at all times (in the case of the StuPa, this has been provided for in its own rules of procedure since at least 2004!) Minutes of the major committees must be written quickly and with sufficient comprehensible content for all to see. All this must also be anchored structurally, ideally with a new position.
Of course, there are limits to transparency, e.g. due to laws or the need to maintain the ability to act.
There are so many of us and we actually have the best prerequisites, and yet we make so little of it. Much more could be possible to pimp student life. How this should be done has already been shown on our campus from 2009 to 2018. Campus Marketing Flensburg (later: CAMPUSLife Flensburg), a student association by and for students. We want to revive this from the EUF student body. On its Facebook page and especially the many photos, you can see what this association achieved in the past and what it could achieve again in the future: https://facebook.com/campuslife.fl
We stand for a fundamental modernisation of the organisational structures of the student body, which in their basic form are several decades old. In doing so, we are clearly positioning ourselves in contrast to the forces in the current StuPa, and especially in its leadership, which are primarily preserving the status quo. Our statutes date from 2004, and they reflect a strong centralist concept in which the above-mentioned points are hardly anchored structurally at all. This is much more modern, much more open, much more participatory and with much more division of labour, for the benefit of all.
The pandemic demanded a lot from all of us and at the same time showed that much more is possible than seemed to be the case before. It is important to learn the best from the experiences that we did not choose and to take them with us into the future.
In teaching and in administration, we need to build on these experiences. If teaching becomes more methodologically diverse (even when it takes place in the presence of students) and fewer “administrative procedures” are possible in administration, if written work such as assignments can also be consistently digitally signed and submitted, then we will have consolidated the positive elements of the experience.
However, it must be clear that with all digitality, (individual) psychosocial consequences must always be anticipated in advance!
All this must be done proactively. Before the next pandemic or a similar exceptional situation forces us to do so again. We must not be driven, but prepare ourselves in good time, as best we can.
European University sounds great. But is it really lived out? Are we as bilingual and therefore as inclusive as the name suggests? No, more needs to happen. Many of our non-German-speaking fellow students feel excluded from committee work, for example, because they don’t even find the texts in English. Of course, we must always make sure that the inclusion of one group does not lead to the exclusion of another. But we have to push for the university to employ a translator, as has been the case at Flensburg University of Applied Sciences for many years.
It is not uncommon for enquiries to the administration from students to take what feels like an eternity, and sometimes you don’t even get a response to IT problems, for example. We are far from pillorying the administration in general, but we have heard similar complaints from so many sides that we have to assume structural deficits of whatever nature. Getting to the bottom of these and solving them will be one of the tasks we will devote ourselves to, so that everyone can have their rights within a reasonable period of time.
As we have already said elsewhere, we have a campus in the countryside that is unique in Germany, with two universities. Together, more is always possible than alone. In the future, we need to think and act much more outside the box and with a genuine will to cooperate.
Flensburg’s students make up about 10 % of the total population of Flensburg. The universities are therefore of great importance for the city and the surrounding area. However, only little of this reaches the population. Therefore, public relations work must be intensified in order to constantly anchor the existence of the university in Flensburg’s minds. Incidentally, this can also become relevant when politicians once again think about merging university locations, as has happened time and again in the past.
Unfortunately, many half-truths and simply inadmissible behaviour have become commonplace in recent years and have been reproduced from generation to generation. This has led to some upheavals in the recent past. For this reason, we have been able to acquire a specialist lawyer who will hold a legal introduction for all future office-holders shortly after the election. This introduction must become a standard in the future so that everyone knows what they are doing and is on the safe side.