On 16 October 1974, three university students painted the name "Carl von Ossietzky University" in large letters on the tower of building A 1-4. The name dispute, which until then had mainly been fought locally, subsequently escalated into a national and international controversy.

The three students had prepared their coup for a long time and only informed a few people in advance. During the night of 15 to 16 October, they gained access to the roof of the General Disposal Centre (now A 1-4). There they attached the 60-centimetre-high polystyrene letters, which had been made over weeks of preparation by education student Aart Pabst.

With this action, they wanted to send a signal against the state government of Lower Saxony at the time, which had forbidden the university founded the previous year to bear the name of Nobel Peace Prize winner Carl von Ossietzky. The founding committee and the council had previously spoken out in favour of this name. Many students and employees, as well as the university rector at the time, Prof Dr Rainer Krüger, therefore supported the protest action.

However, the state government did not put up with this. After several unsuccessful requests to remove the lettering, it sent workmen to the roof of the building on 27 June 1975, accompanied by hundreds of police. The removal led to loud protests from students and employees, who greeted the police with whistles and boos. Intellectuals, politicians and the media throughout Germany and internationally also criticised the action and accused the state government of damaging the memory of an opponent of National Socialism.

Pabst and his fellow students were not deterred by the police action: a few days later, they put up the lettering again. This time, the state government refrained from reacting as it considered it pointless. However, it was another 16 years before the university was officially allowed to bear its name. It was not until 1991 that our university was officially named the University of Oldenburg.