Enlarge image
Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen
Photo:
Eibner / IMAGO
The Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen will keep its name.
An application by the students to change the name to "University of Tübingen" did not find a majority in the university senate on Thursday, as "Welt" and Süddeutsche Zeitung reports. 15 senate members voted in favor of the application, 16 against, 2 abstained according to the university spokeswoman Antje Karbe.
Based on a historical report on the two rulers and namesakes of the university, Count Eberhard and Duke Karl Eugen von Württemberg, the Senate had dealt with the question of a name change several times in recent months.
Count Eberhard von Württemberg - also known as Eberhard im Bart - founded the University of Tübingen in 1477.
In 1769, Duke Karl Eugen decided on the name of the university, which is still valid today. As Eberhard-Karls-Universität, it refers to the first names of both rulers.
Differing views in the Commission
Criticism of the historical name of the University of Tübingen was already voiced in the student movement of the 1970s.
The current criticism is aimed specifically at the two namesakes.
Eberhard, the founder of the university, is considered an anti-Semite, and Duke Karl Eugen is said to have sold young men abroad as soldiers.
For this reason, the Senate set up a commission last year to carry out an assessment.
There are also different opinions within the commission on the question of keeping or changing the name, said the head of the committee, Sigrid Hirbodian.
She is director of the Tübingen Institute for Historical Regional Studies.
Renaming of universities has occurred in history, above all with political system changes.
For example, the University of Leipzig in the former GDR bore the name of Karl Marx.
Name changes due to controversy surrounding an individual are rare;
the best-known example is the University of Greifswald, which dropped the suffix »Ernst Moritz Arndt« in 2018.
Arndt (1769-1860) was highly controversial because of nationalist and anti-Semitic statements.
According to the Stuttgart Ministry of Science, a university can give itself a new name by adopting a new basic order that includes the new name.
Each new basic order requires the approval of the Ministry.
fok
