„Since 2015, the Vienna Ball of Sciences is setting an example as a counterpiece to the far-right Akademikerball. In a time filled with right-extremist thoughts surrounding us in our everday lives, a time in which hatred and agitation have become normality and in which ideologies of inequality can even be found in science, it is necessary to take a stance against. Right-wing extremists, members of right-wing fraternities and other nationalists must never dominate science again. Critical and sustainable science is only possible if research and studies are open and free. Let’s set an example together in the Rathaus, in the academic and public sphere. Let’s set an example for openness and tolerance.”

Adrijana Novaković is head of the Austrian National Union of Students federal body of Representatives(ÖH). She studies history and history of art at the University of Vienna and was one of two main candidates for the Green and Alternative Students (GRAS) at the last ÖH-election.  In the years before she worked in the department for foreign students and anti-racism at the ÖH Vienna.

Photo: Österreichische Hochschüler_innenschaft.