France: The professor, whom left-wing radicals and Islamists call an “Islamophobe”, calls his former university in Grenoble a “re-education camp”

“In the lecture halls one now hears professors questioning the whole system in its universalist, democratic and secular foundations. This is done without any inhibitions”.

Klaus Kinzler, professor of German and German civilisation at the Institut d’études politiques in Grenoble, is at the centre of a polemic that has been poisoning the institution for a year. In a campaign launched by students on social networks, he was accused of Islamophobia. His name and that of a colleague were denounced on the walls of the university with the inscription ” Fascists in our lecture halls. Islamophobia kills”. Klaus Kinzler has not returned to the IEP since the events. In March, he will publish the report on this case with Editions du Rocher.

Question: In your opinion, you were the target of a “cabal” orchestrated by a student union (Union syndicale) of the IEP Grenoble, with the compliant of the Directorate and the teaching staff. Why did things come to such a head?

Kinzler: It all started with an email exchange with a historian colleague in December 2020. I objected to the title of a one-day discussion event in which “racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia” were put on the same level. This seemed scandalous to me, when there is a real debate about the relevance of the term Islamophobia. The discussion quickly became heated as my colleague affirmed the ” scientific nature ” of the word. The trouble began. Already in January, the campaign had been unleashed on Facebook. I was accused of being “Islamophobic”, demanded my resignation and called for anonymous testimonies against me. In March this year, my name and that of a colleague, a political scientist specialising in Islam in France, were posted on the façade of the school. I was put under police protection for a month.

Question: You have been teaching at Sciences Po Grenoble for twenty-five years. What observations have you made?

Kinzler: I have taught at this institution for a quarter of a century without ever having any problems, in complete freedom. On German language and civilisation, history, politics, society: I was able to address all topics with my students, who I consulted every year about my teaching. But for the last ten years, and increasingly in the last five, I have noticed a generational change. Not so much among the students, by the way, but among the teachers. Within a short period of time, many young researchers joined who are supporters of woke theories, decolonialists, communitarians and anti-capitalists. Sciences Po Grenoble is no longer an institute for political studies, but for political education, even re-education. The students are indoctrinated. A hard core of 25 teachers out of a total of 70 hold the reins.

The leadership is weak, politically moderate, but does not want to cause a stir. As a hostage of those I call “the ultras”, they are unfit, they have sacrificed me like a pawn. They put pressure on me not to speak out in the media. If they had defended me from the beginning and simply said that I was a good teacher, they could have avoided this fuss. The other teachers remain silent. Now the students have teachers in front of them who only accept one opinion, for example on police violence or Islamophobia. Some teachers no longer adhere to Weber’s theorised commitment to the neutrality of sociology. This radicalisation is completely accepted.L’Opinion

https://www.fdesouche.com/2021/12/08/klaus-kinzler-enseignant-sciences-po-grenoble-est-devenu-un-camp-de-reeducation/