On Wednesday, January 28, the Senate of the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) elected Jendrik Fabisch as the new student member of the Viadrina Presidential Board. The 21-year-old student will take up his post on April 1, succeeding Ira Helten, who shaped the newly created office during her one-year term as the first student member of the Presidential Board.
"From a student perspective, it is important to not only perceive the university as a service provider; we have the opportunity to help shape it in the time we are here," says Jendrik Fabisch about his motivation. He sees the involvement of students in the ongoing reform process at the European University as a key issue. "We are the largest status group and it is essential that our voices are included and heard." He also sees the networking of committed students on campus as his task. He is looking forward to building a large network within the student body in order to bring issues from there to the university management. "It is certainly a challenge to assert yourself in such a body full of respected people," he says, but is confident given his experience in the district student council in his home state of Lower Saxony, among other things.
Jendrik Fabisch is in his third semester of law and politics at Viadrina. He is currently shaping campus life as chairman of the law student council. He was already active at school as a student representative and in the children's and youth work of the Protestant church. He gained his first professional experience with internships at a local newspaper and with a member of the state parliament before moving to Frankfurt (Oder) to study at Viadrina. According to Fabisch, it was a conscious decision to combine the subjects of law and politics and to choose the university city. "I'm just not a big city person at all," he says.
In addition to the student member, the Viadrina Senate also elected the following Vice Presidents for a further three-year term of office on 28 January: Prof. Dr. Jan-Hendrik Passoth for Research and Career Development, Prof. Dr. Christoph Brömmelmeyer for Studies and Teaching and Janine Nuyken for Transfer and Campus. Prof. Dr Charlotte Köhler had already been elected to the new position of Vice President for Digitalization in July 2025.