In 1948, the Free University of Berlin was founded in the neighborhood of Dahlem (in the Western zone) to protest the communist influence on teaching at Humboldt University (in the Soviet sector). The Free University differed from other West German universities in that students were allowed greater participation in its self-administration. The university’s independence was to be guaranteed by its autonomy and its status as an institution of public law. Still, traditional rituals persisted for quite some time. Shown here is a ceremonial procession of university faculty members.