On Monday, 22 June, students will gather outside the Philharmonie under the banner “No Grad As Usual” to protest restrictions imposed by the Hertie School ahead of its 2026 graduation ceremony. Organisers are also calling on the university to cut ties with all institutions complicit in international law violations, like the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Last week, Hertie announced that graduating students must sign a document prohibiting displays that the school defines as “Anti-Semitism,” including symbols of historic Palestine and calls for boycott against the state of Israel. They also prohibit any “disruptions, interruptions, or other interference” with the ceremony, including verbal expression.
In response, second-year student representatives wrote to the student body condemning the policy as “institutionally harmful and divisive,” noting that it singles out Palestine-related expression while making “no comparable attempt to address other forms of discrimination.” They also warned that a growing number of students are considering not attending their own graduation as a result.
One student who is refusing to sign the document, and will therefore not be able to attend his own graduation, said: “I don’t want to normalise students having to sign a document restricting their freedom of expression to attend their own graduation ceremony. This is especially concerning when the document incorrectly defines calls for boycott of a state, whose leader is wanted by the ICC and which is currently on trial before the ICJ, as antisemitism. It is harmful to
conflate antisemitism with criticism of a state’s actions. From a governance school, we should expect better than the normalisation of such harmful discourse.”
The new rules follow Hertie’s student council passing a resolution in March 2026 which supports and adopts guidelines of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign — the first German student council to do so. The resolution remains in place.
Monday’s protest is organised by the Solidarity Collective. The organisers said: “While we have the privilege of graduating, our counterparts in Palestine have had their universities bombed, raided, or shut down entirely. Silence in that context is complicity, and intimidation by our own school is cowardice. We are demonstrating to defend our constitutional right to free expression and to demand that Hertie finally cut ties with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and every other institution complicit in violations of international law.”
The public demonstration will take place on Monday, 22 June, at 18:00 at Scharounplatz, in front of the Philharmonie Berlin. We also recommend reading the recent article in Verfassungsblog by Bernhard Knoll-Tudor, Director of Executive Education at Hertie School.
