Vandals ravage Conservative Students’ offices

»Election posters had been torn down from the walls. Coffee had been poured all over everything. Vases and candles were smashed on the floor.«

This is according to Conservative Students Konservative Studerende chair Marlene Budolph. She turned up alone Friday morning at the student organisation’s premises on CSS central campus at the University of Copenhagen (UCPH) and found out that they had been vandalized at some time over the course of the night.

»It was really uncomfortable to enter the room. And it was very clear that those who had been here did not support out messages. Nothing had been stolen, but vases and posters had been destroyed,« she says.

She therefore believes that it is politically motivated vandalism.

»This is not the first time we have had vandalism carried out against our election posters or other content with political messages. During the university elections, we had our election posters ripped down or destroyed as soon as they came up. Sometimes they could not even hang there for more than 2-3 hours before they had been removed or destroyed.«

Management rejects vandalism

Despite previous problems with election posters, Conservative Students have not yet had to contend with vandalism to this extent, says Marlene Budolph. She contacted the Faculty of Social Sciences’ management immediately.

»We didn’t touch anything before management had been out to see the vandalism. Now they have reported it to the police, and they have also acknowledged our theory that it can be politically motivated. We are pleased that it is being taken seriously.«

The Faculty of Social Sciences has distanced themselves from the vandalism via their official Twitter profile. This also goes for the dean of the faculty Mikkel Vedby Rasmussen:

»Dialogue and respect for other people’s viewpoints is a core value @KuSamf. I strongly disagree with politically motivated vandalism. We face a challenge with bigoted activism. That’s why we are working hard on values. They are also a part of a university degree programme,« he writes, with reference to the vandalism on his Twitter profile.