A year of conflict and protests: But there were no angry students at key UCPH ceremony

The University of Copenhagen’s (UCPH) annual Commemoration celebration was this year on Friday 8 November.

It has historically been the locus for both students and staff to make a point, or directly criticize management.

At the 2019 celebration, a group of students covered themselves with red roses in front of the entrance to the Ceremonial Hall on Frue Plads square. They protested against the planned merging of subjects at the Faculty of Humanities, and Queen Magrethe had to edge her way past them when she arrived to attend the party.

In 2022, a number of demonstrating students protested against the former dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Mikkel Vedby Rasmussen. Students had positioned themselves next to the red carpet with giant placards and slogans like »Give Mikkel Vedby the sack« and »Bring back democracy« to highlight the students’ resounding dissatisfaction with the dean’s management style.

READ ALSO: Protests at University of Copenhagen ceremony: »Give Mikkel Vedby the sack!«

This year, there one agenda has dominated the space among a large group of students, and they have so far taken every opportunity to draw attention to it: The UCPH investments and collaborations with Israel and Israeli universities.

But even though students have protested loudly this year through demonstrations, a tent camp, and the occupation of a building where several students were dragged away by the police — no students found their way to the annual commemoration.

Queen Mary visited UCPH

The square in front of the impressive main entrance on Frue Plads is empty, but is gradually filled up by the invited guests who arrive at the party: Minister for Higher Education and Science Christina Egelund (Moderate Party), the entire management team of UCPH, rectors from other universities, and UCPH employees who have turned up yet again to celebrate the university.

True to tradition, a representative from the Royal Family participates. This year it is Queen Mary – and she attracts a huge press attendance, and before the party they have to coordinate among themselves for positioning so that everyone can get the perfect picture of the Queen.

Before the programme itself starts, magnificent drone shots are seen on two screens in the hall from the many different locations of UCPH: The Arboretum, City Campus, the Forest and Landscape College. Then the drone shots are replaced with impressive statistics – for example, that UCPH is the fifth best university in Europe.

The hall goes quiet and a fanfare intones.

Queen Mary, Rector Henrik C. Wegener and Chair of the Board Merete Eldrup enter, followed by UCPH prorectors, the Director, and the entire group of deans.

»It was a sad day for UCPH«

The Queen gets her own seat and is now ready to attend to the afternoon’s many speeches, awards and musical performances. The first speaker is the UCPH chair of the Board, Merete Eldrup, followed by a speech by the rector.

Both Eldrup and Wegener directly address the major conflict that has taken place between management and students this year. The students have demanded that UCPH takes a direct position on the situation in Gaza by withdrawing their investments from companies operating on occupied Palestinian land and by implementing an academic boycott against Israeli universities.

READ ALSO: In-depth interview with rector: This is why there will be no academic boycott of Israel

»The university is a cornerstone of democracy. At the core is academic freedom, which guarantees the university a value that money cannot buy. Namely credibility,« says Henrik Wegener, and then goes on to describe what he means by academic freedom.

It is a »gentle kind of martial art where the ‘black belt’ you receive is in terms of evidence,« where the only thing that there is agreement on is »the joint search for truth.«

And what about the students, Wegener asks, concluding that they are still on »a practice track for academia.« UCPH has a tradition of being inclusive, and student activism is welcome, he says and asks: But where is the limit?

The rector now describes two student activism episodes at UCPH – both carried out by the student association Students against the Occupation. One is the Rafah Garden tent camp, where students occupied a lawn in one of the courtyards of the CSS campus. The other is the incident in September, when masked students occupied the museum building, where the Rector’s Office is located.

»It ended with a call to the police. The police carried, and escorted, the students out onto the street,« Wegener says and continues:

»It was a sad day for UCPH – and for student activism. And the question is also whether the times are changing for these blockades of the inner life of the university.«

The spirit of the university

The next speaker is Andrias Nolsøe Jacobsen, who is a student of nanoscience and is chairman of the Student Council. He speaks of »the spirit of the university.« It is »the will to protest and our tendency to change.«

»Our university is a vehicle for change in society, in the world and in our understanding of it.«

He explains how the university has had to undergo countless changes in recent years: Relocation, abolition of the sixth year of the Danish SU student grant, and soon-to-be-shortened master’s degree programmes. Why didn’t the students do more to fight against these changes which, according to Nolsøe, will lead to poorer well-being. He asked the question in his speech himself, and his suggestion for an answer was:

»Perhaps it’s because of the amount of changes. Perhaps it is because of the stress we are under from the reforms themselves. Or maybe it is the powerlessness that we as students and youth feel towards the political system,« he says.

It means so much that my students nominated me. There is just nothing more grand than this

Nenia Zenana, recipient of the Teacher of the Year Award

Unlike both Eldrup and Wegener, Andrias Nolsøe Jacobsen does not touch on the major Israel-Palestine conflict that has raged on between the students and UCPH management for months on end. The University Post catches up with the chairperson after the annual commemoration to ask him why.

»I tried to mention it indirectly by putting the protests in a more historical perspective. And then I chose to focus more on the education system and how to change the premises for it,« he says.

The conflict has been a big problem for many students this year, and both the chair of the board and the rector addressed it directly. So why did the Student Council choose to opt out of that agenda?

»It’s a difficult topic to talk about, so I’d rather take an approach where I hinted at it more indirectly.«

»There is just nothing more grand than this«

After the speeches, the musician Claus Hempler plays two songs. And then numerous doctorates, honorary doctorates, silver and gold medals, as well as an innovation award, study environment award and the big teaching award have to be given out.

The winner of this teaching award is Nenia Zenana, a teaching associate professor at the Department of Musicology. A thank-you video runs across one of the two big screens:

»It means so much because my students nominated me. There is just nothing more grand than this,« she says in the video, and when she accepts the award, she holds her hands to her heart.

Nenia Zenana conducts the musicology choir MUKU, and while around 80 students stream into the ceremonial hall from all entrances, she takes off her shoes and stands barefoot on a stool next to Queen Mary.

She is to conduct the huge group of students through two pieces. The voices of the students echo through the hall, while Nenia Zenana passionately throws her arms up and down to guide the students’ rhythm.

It all ends in loud applause, and Nenia Zenana bows first towards the audience, then towards the Queen.

Finally, the Queen exits to the sound of the UCPH wind instrument group Fanfare, and the annual commemoration is over.