Student podcast explains code on academic freedom

04/14/2026

In September 2024, the Senate of the University of Würzburg adopted the Code "Academic Freedom and Responsibility". The student's representation podcast has now dedicated an episode to the code.

Henry Mörtl (right) interviews Markus Ludwigs on the podcast about the University of Würzburg’s code , “Academic Freedom and Responsibility.” (Image: Vinzenz Dürr)

In addition to freedom of the press, freedom of opinion and artistic freedom, Article Five of the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany also regulates academic freedom. The latter cannot be taken for granted: In the United States of America, many high-ranking universities such as Harvard are currently coming under pressure from the US government.

In September 2024, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) adopted its own code of conduct entitled "Academic Freedom and Responsibility". A working group of 15 people from various status groups drew up the code at the suggestion of the University Board. It was modelled on the University of Hamburg, which was the first German university to draw up its own code on academic freedom.

Two members of the JMU group have now recorded a podcast in which they talk about the Code: Professor Markus Ludwigs, Head of the JMU Chair of Public Law and European Law, and Philosophy student Henry Mörtl. The aim of the podcast is to explain the Code to students in an understandable and low-threshold way.

The episode was produced as part of the JMU student's representation podcast 970.wav in the podcast studio of the Dr. Herbert Brause Medienkompetenzzentrum on Hubland Campus. The episode is available on Spotify and in German.