More freedom for teaching and research

Article 5, paragraph 3 of our basic law in Germany states: Art and science, research and teaching are free. Freedom of teaching does not absolve faithfulness from the Constitution. It contradicts my understanding of democracy that the vast majority of lecturers and researchers cannot work freely in this field due to fixed-term employment contracts. In their professional existence, they are dependent on the financing of their own job, which takes place primarily through public funds. In this sense, I support the petition: Limitation is Frustration (Frist ist Frust).

I left the academic apparatus a year ago because of the time-limited contracts. Before I chose this path, I dealt with the fixed-term situation in my post Perspective Academia. When I saw the numbers, I was shocked. On which risky track I was on the way?

Today science is made by scientists, not by the buildings and institutions in which they work. Professors are by numbers a minority. The facilities are an essential prerequisite, but more important is a cultivated approach to all scientists. A large part of the German executives in the private sector and the administration have their first employment in the academic environment. What they have experienced will also serve as a model for their later actions. With this in mind, I would like to see more free researchers and lecturers in our country, who dedicate themselves to relevant issues of our time in the good.