NOlympia: Why Students at the University of Hamburg Don‘t Need the Olympics in Hamburg

28 April 2026

Flyers regarding the referendum on the Olympics are currently being distributed. We, as the Student Union (AStA) of the University of Hamburg, are also featured in them with a statement opposing the Olympics in Hamburg.

It reads: "Because the University of Hamburg is facing massive budget cuts, the Student Services Organization is raising cafeteria prices and dormitory rents. At the same time, at least one-third of all students live in poverty. Why should we help students in Hamburg when we can throw money into the Elbe for a so-called prestige project?"

In shortening the quotes, the NOlympia Alliance seems to have made a small slip-up here:

Of course, the cost increases for students in the cafeteria and dormitories are not directly related to the cuts at the university.

The Senate is actually making cuts in two distinct areas here: The cuts in the university’s budget stem primarily from the lack of compensation for IT infrastructure costs and wage increases. The fact that the Student Services Organization is underfunded and left to fend for itself is independent of the university’s budget, but naturally follows the logic that the welfare state is to be dismantled.

Money for the Olympics is supposed to be available anyway, and the governing parties even claim that the Olympics are a boon for the city’s coffers.

Yet the Senate does not factor in the additional costs for security, for example, in its financial plan, and other questions remain unanswered:

Why wasn’t the financial plan adjusted for inflation?

What will happen to the students in the planned apartments in Science City Bahrenfeld, while volunteers and Olympians are to be housed there?

Will students then face eviction from the apartments because the Olympics are coming, or does the Senate intend to delay occupancy until after the Olympics and leave the apartments vacant?

For us, key questions regarding the Olympic bid remain unresolved—questions that directly affect students both now and in the future. Therefore, we stand by the resolution passed by the StuPa in motions 2526/19 and 2526/19.1, and the AStA of the University of Hamburg continues to say “No” to the Olympics in Hamburg.