Students saw Horkheimer and Adorno as a beacon in a stuffy academy

Evidence

No matter how Horkheimer and Adorno camouflaged themselves, they represented a ray of light for many students, even if only because what they were doing was unusual, and because what Horkheimer had said at the opening ceremony, thanking the architects of the newfunctionalInstitute building, was also true of them themselves: you could see from outside that it wasn’t stuffy in there. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1916