The autumn semester 2020 is in full swing - online. We have all made enormous efforts to get back into attendance mode as quickly as possible, the teaching we were allowed to enjoy at the beginning of the spring semester 2020, was then abruptly and brutally interrupted by the pandemic. We wanted to tackle the autumn semester together in attendance mode, greeting our new students with open arms and personally. It was not possible. Earlier than many other institutions, we, the university management, together with all the deans of the faculties, had to decide to start the autumn semester in hybrid mode. With owls, recalculated capacity limits of the lecture and seminar halls and with protection concepts of all kinds, we tried to make the autumn semester as non-virtual as possible. The start worked - also thanks to all your efforts. I would like to thank you all for this.

Those who were able to come to the university have come. Those for whom it was not possible for health - or other reasons - have participated in their lectures and seminars virtually. You have all shown great patience and understanding. Particularly for our new students, it cannot have been easy to start long-awaited university studies in this way. No owl in the world, no zoom and no disinfectant spray can replace the wonderful atmosphere of university life, with all the new subjects to be discovered, the lecturers, fellow students, administrative staff, the library and the canteen. And then it got even worse: we were forced to take measures that affected our university life even more. For several weeks now, we have only been teaching online. We see ourselves only in miniature videos - excerpts of our personalities that do not do us justice. We only hear each other when we "unmute" - and please only sequentially! The amusing knocking on the table after a lecture, the true reward of a lecturer, is replaced by a pair of yellow clapping hands in the corner of our miniature selves.

And yet: we are privileged to be able to make the best of a bad situation - together. We are all still dependent on each other, on working together and on building fair, digital exam formats. And we behave fairly towards each other and stay honest and true to ourselves by not exploiting the possibilities for cheating. Above all, we make every effort to stay healthy to protect ourselves and our fellow human beings. By now, we all know a person who has been affected by the pandemic, has survived it, is still fighting it or has even lost this fight. At the university we are all affected by the pandemic, the students, the lecturers, the staff - the virus knows no categories. And so many of us have already been quarantined - even more than once. These are hard times for individuals, for institutions and for society in general. Let us master them together. And even if it may sound slightly trite: better times will come, we can be sure of that.

With this in mind, I wish you all - all of us - a reflective Advent season, a good end to this autumn semester and, above all, unbroken courage and the confidence that 2021 will be a much better year.

Prof. Dr. Alexander H. Trechsel, Vice Rector Research