Alex is abroad in Munich, Germany, until August 2009.

I touched on this topic earlier, but lately I seem to keep running into it, and my encounters merit an independent post.  With the prospect of having to pay the 500-Euro tuition fee again next semester, the German students are becoming more committed to protesting the cost of school.

The scraggly haired 20-something who announced the last protest has not made any more appearances at the front of my lecture hall, but he and his equally outraged friends seem to have gotten more organized and systematic about their approach to protesting.  For the last two weeks, large black flyers have been popping up on walls, pillars, bulletin boards and doors of the university buildings.  They’re even appearing on some of the more remote buildings on the outskirts of the English Garden, where such things usually go unannounced.

In stark contrast to the black background, the white letters “SOS” illuminate each flyer.  SOS stands for “Studenten ohne Studiengebühr,” or Students Without Tuition, and is the name of the group responsible for organization of the protests.  This time, rather than just one time and one location, they managed to organize three separate protests in succession in three places around the main campus — an impressive feat considering it has only been a few weeks since the last attempt.

I was unable to attend the protest because I unfortunately had class (through my program so they were veritably unskippable), but I did hear about it for a few days afterward.  About an hour after the protests, I had Intro to the German Governmental System and met up with a classmate, Yvonne, as we were walking through the hall.  She had come directly from the protest, and I eagerly quizzed her about how it turned out.  Somewhere between 7,000 and 10,000 people (reports vary from person to person) showed up to the university, located on the biggest and busiest street in Munich.  Everyone from professors and students to parents of grade school students were there.  Quite a few people made speeches about their various concerns, and a fair amount of people from the press turned out as well.

I was nothing short of impressed that so many people were passionate enough about tuition to come out on a Tuesday afternoon and protest, but when I told that to Yvonne, she shrugged and dejectedly noted that out of the 23,000 students that attend LMU, it wasn’t that many.  When we walked into class, news of the protest was already buzzing around the room as opinions flew.  One girl sitting a few people over from us was rattling off all the reasons that she supported tuition and how angry she got in a previous class at someone who had challenged her view.  Yvonne made the comment quietly to me, “She only supports it because her parents can afford it.”  It seems that the influence of parental income in debates over college tuition spans the Atlantic.

When the debate turned into lots of students railing on tuition, I decided it was a good time to contribute my American experience, and I explained how my university costs around $50,000 per year.  The reactions were, “Really?” “No way,” “How can you afford that?” and “That is exactly why we shouldn’t have tuition in Germany, because we could end up like the U.S.!” in that order.

Unfortunately the professor walked in and curbed our discussion toward political theories, and we didn’t get a chance to talk again until after class.  The majority of my classmates and I use the exact same bus to get from the university building to the nearest U-Bahn stop, so we had some time to chat during the commute.  I explained the process of taking out loans from the bank and paying them off after graduation, and the German students were amazed.

One guy, who had not participated in the pre-class debate, ended up sitting next to me once the others got off, and said, “Man, we must look pretty silly to you then, protesting 500 Euros.”  I told him, yeah, a little, but that I enjoyed hearing their opinions on the issue, and learning how the German system functions.  As the bus pulled up to my stop, he noted, “Well, at least we are protesting.”  I agreed.

Hopefully I will be able to make it to some of the protests next time.  At this rate the next one should be much bigger than the last.  It is wonderful to see so many student passionately fighting for their right to an education.

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