The constitutional complaint of several university professors against the Thuringian Higher Education Act before the Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG) has largely failed. They complained that their academic freedom had been violated, as their participation in self-administration in matters relevant to academia was not sufficiently guaranteed and secured. Specifically, they demanded a majority of seats and votes in all Senate matters. 

The BVerfG has now largely rejected the constitutional complaint as unfounded (Ref.: 1 BvR 1141/19 of 30 September 2025). The Thuringian Higher Education Act guarantees professors a sufficient degree of participation, in particular in the selection process of candidates for the office of president, the dismissal of a president, the appointment of the arbitration committee or the participation of various groups in the senate.    

However, in the opinion of the BVerfG, it is not compatible with academic freedom for the group of technical and administrative staff to have the same voting weight as the group of academic staff and students in matters relevant to academia. The BVerfG sees this as a structural threat to academic freedom, as the voting weight of this group is also not sufficiently limited. The court called on the legislator to amend this regulation by the end of March 2027.