Out of the murky jaws of the German government,

The budget cuts’ claws have emerged with intentions

To murk.

The universities.

In Berlin.

Some dare to poke, scratch, and provoke the belly

Of the beast.

The price is high to pay when you want peacе.

How high?

In 2025, Germany spent over 86 billion euros on

Defense.

But in 2026, the people in the streets still

Fear the fascists.

Students from Dahlem summon on the

Squares of Pariser Platz, in front of the sun that’s

Supporting courageously the Berlin citizens 

From above the Quadriga.

The government lies and prevaricates.

The FU students move forward with purpose

Through the social barricades.

Lackluster rain.

Mass sagacious altercations.

Loosened pain.

Mad demonstrations.

Lying shade.

Motivated system destabilizations.

Neglect persistence, obfuscate a powerful

Mobilization movement.

While the crackling collective effervescence of students’ dissatisfaction

With the budget cuts roars in the capital’s center,

Tucked between the comforting trees and stern

Concrete buildings in Dahlem, the students are

Dealing with the cuts by trying to keep their minds

Occupied with exam preparations.

In 1973, James Brown concluded one of his greatest albums,

The Payback, with the song Mind Power.

The power of the mind is the greatest foundation

Of every child, student, and adult.

The mind perseveres through waves of academic pressure.

The mind creates forests of art that we value as sacred treasure.

The concept of the mind plays a pivotal role in

Freie Universität’s identity.

The students are FU’s heartbeat.

But…

Who is the brain,

What is the brain,

Where is the brain,

Of the Freie Uni?

In the Rostlaube, walk gracefully up the

Royal dahlia-red tapestry.

There you’ll see the Philological Library, which we, the students,

Call the Brain.

The grey coat of nonchalance perfectly blends with

The lethargy of the whimper of Berlin’s winter,

But the scintillating yellow/white embracing

Shimmer of enlightenment matches the

Exuberance of the capital’s summer glimmer.

The neurons of books spark ideas that electrocute

The world with a whirlwind of very high voltage.

Emancipate the mind.

Escape the social bondage.

Earnestly seek knowledge.

Budget cuts want to keep education hostage.

But suppression of education always crumbles like foliage.

1st Floor- The Brain’s Limbic System:

Next to the towering shelves of endless wisdom, at chalk-white tables,

A group of philosophy students gathers to

Ponder the wonder of human essence and emotions,

From Nietzsche’s Amor Fati to Schelling’s Sehnsucht,

Rousseau’s volonté générale

-The pursuit of the ultimate truth.

2nd Floor-The Hippocampus:

At the stratus-white tables,

Behind the imposing windows

Through which the sun curiously

Observes the students in great awe,

A crowd of history students collects itself

To memorize the dignified figures involved in

The amplified suffrage movement of Switzerland, 1971,

The revolutionized enfranchisement movement of Germany, 1918.

A historical framework for equality.

3rd Floor- The Cortex Prefrontal:

A congregation of political science students

Meets up at the gardenia-white tables,

Under the ocean of flickering lamps,

To have a disciplined and focused discussion

About the durability of modern democracy in

The landscape of the lackluster media’s insincerity.

At 10 PM,

The students take a deep breath,

Close their books,

Bid their friend, the Brain, a sincere farewell.

The Brain waves back at them,

Eagerly expecting to see

What magnificent progress

The students will achieve tomorrow,

As the hypothalamus of erudition

Gently rocks it to sleep.