Reaction to the criticism of the stuvus anniversary

Dear students,

The Student Council is turning 10 years old this year. For this occasion, we are organizing a multi-day event with which we wanted to appeal to as many students as possible by selecting several artists from different genres on different days. For the evening, where we planned party hits and folk music, we booked the band “Dorfrocker”. This decision caused a lot of criticism afterwards, as the band was criticized, among other things, for presenting a sexist worldview on their website.

We noticed this public criticism, which was also directed at us, and discussed it in another meeting of the student parliament and internally. We know that the subsequent reaction is late, but also we are, like the student body in general, not a homogeneous group with only one opinion. Thus, stuvus activists have spent the last few days discussing a lot about what conclusion we draw from the emerging criticism.

We stand up for a non-discriminatory world view at the University of Stuttgart in the committees of the university, but also apart from that. We want to represent all students equally, regardless of their origin, sexuality, religion or age. Representing these values is important to us.

When deciding on a cancellation of the band, a high financial risk must also be taken into account. Because in addition to the costs for the band due to the closed contract, especially the expected turnover is reduced, because we do not expect to find a replacement program for the evening and the Dorfrocker are our headliner for the evening. The consideration of these two points, among others, was not easy for us.

The financial plan for the event, as well as the release of funds for the band were decided collectively by the student parliament on the proposal of the responsible working group. Due to the financial implications of a cancellation (depending on estimates, lost revenue and the associated loss of several 10,000 €), we see it as necessary to make the final decision on whether the performance should be canceled, democratically decided in the student parliament. This coming Wednesday, the student parliament will meet in public and will deal with the topic in two agenda items. We would be happy if you would attend the meeting and participate in the discussion.

We know that some of you do not feel represented in this decision, and therefore criticize. We regret this very much. Nevertheless, we would like to take this opportunity to point out the original reason for this event: This event is meant to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the introduction of an official student representation with as much breadth and diversity as possible and lasts several days with a varied program. We would also like to point out the other program points and would be happy if we could welcome you.

We would like to explicitly invite you as members of the student representation and hope that we can celebrate this event together without discrimination despite all discussions and criticism.

Your Student Council