Walls are divisive—so why was one built on campus? The short answer is that it’s part of Dr. Petra Watzke’s class “The Berlin Wall,” which has been working with Gary Wilson in the theater department to create their own Berlin Wall.
The wall now stands at nine feet tall and 25 feet long, and is being placed across two walkways on Case Green. According to Watzke, the students in “The Berlin Wall” course discuss “the division that the wall created in Germany and how the landscape changed after the fall of the Berlin Wall,” as well as the dialogue regarding the division these past thirty years.
Watzke’s class is not solely focused on the Berlin Wall, they are also having important conversations about modern walls and borders. With contemporary counterparts in mind, the students will return to their discussions about the Berlin Wall after its fall. “Unfortunately walls in our current day are a very important topic that needs to be discussed,” said Watzke.
“[The wall] will be an inconvenience. It will not be an obstacle, but it definitely will be an inconvenience to people,” said Watzke. She does not anticipate the wall creating any accessibility issues, though if any arise, she encourages people to contact her.
Nora Weber ’20, a member of the class, hopes people embrace the frustration they may feel — asking even the bikers who have already shared their annoyance at losing the direct route to class.
She says it’s exciting to have “something tangible for a concept that we just think about it — we think about walls, we think about division — but where we live in Upstate New York, we don’t get to experience it that often.”
The class is decorating a part of the wall with posters and graffiti similar to what was found on the original Berlin Wall. There will be Sharpies left near the wall so that other students can draw as well, and Watzke invites the rest of campus “to come down and write their thoughts about walls as national divisions.”
Watzke and her class are asking that students who write on the wall limit their drawings to the west side, leaving the other side bare in order to channel the interaction that residents historically had with the original. In addition, the west side, which is indicated by the posters and graffiti, is actually facing west.
This event coincides with the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which happened on Nov. 9. To commemorate, the day will be spent with the class tearing down their wall — complete with a celebration afterwards.
On Nov. 14 at 5:45 p.m., the class will put together a discussion about walls in other contexts, hosted by numerous different professors, which Watzke described as an effort “to contextualize our own wall.”