“Is it anonymized?” The immediate question of this student from the Institute of Political Studies (IEP) in Grenoble (Isère) is revealing. Within this establishment, the tensions linked to the controversy over two teachers are struggling to fall a year after the facts. On March 4, 2021, posters were indeed pasted on the facade of the building: “Fascists in our amphitheatres”, “Islamophobia kills”, they mentioned. Two teachers were specifically targeted, accusing them directly of Islamophobia. Today, these events leave a bitter taste for many students and teachers.
“The atmosphere is special”cautiously continues this third-year student, who believes that not everyone can express themselves freely. “What people are afraid of is losing their friends overnight, of finding themselves alone. Many students fear that and therefore do not want to enter into the debate and the exchange.” So much so that most of the students met refused to answer franceinfo, a sign that the working atmosphere in this school of 2,000 students is far from serene.
According to the student, the debate “is no longer a habit” in the building. “I can’t tell you that you will be ostracized, but I can at least tell you that there is a risk of going against a doxa that exists at Sciences Po.” Other students interviewed disagree and claim that speech is free. Many especially regret that their school is labeled after these controversies.
“It is a report of capitulation of the majority of the teachers – who are moderates – who let it happen. The management and the students too”, postulates, for his part, Klaus Kinzler. He is one of the teachers targeted by accusations of Islamophobia. The one who has since been suspended – management accuses him of “defamatory remarks” – describes the current atmosphere as “deleterious”, “worse than a year ago”claiming that students “Are afraid” and that the establishment refuses to learn lessons of the controversy.
“It’s an institute where we do indoctrination. A minority of teachers do it in a shameless and incredible way. Nobody protests, at a time when we see that we live in fear.”
Klaus Kinzler, professor at the IEP of Grenoble, suspended from his dutiesat franceinfo
Klaus Kinzler published a book on March 2, Islamo-leftism did not kill me, to tell his version of the facts. He evokes a “pathetic microcosm, where we abolish freedom and the rule of law. We think that everything is fine and that’s how it should be done.” He says he is convinced that there is however “a potential” at the Institute of Political Studies for “rebuild” a new establishment with “two-thirds” teachers. “For that, we would have to get rid of the liberticidal and ideological forces which think that science and ideology must be linked.” According to him, it requires “courage”.
Some teachers refute this severe portrait drawn by Klaus Kinzler. “Ihe debates around the fight against discrimination, the place of Islam in our societies and French identity are lively. We also see it at the national level: it creates clashes and controversies. The IEP is not completely extracted from it”, temporizes Simon Persico, professor of political science. He admits that the climate is not completely serene but refuses to speak of fear.
“The students are very politicized so they are very interested in these issues. There are quite radical activists who take strong positions.”
Simon Persico, professor of political science at the IEP of Grenobleat franceinfo
According to him, these strong positions generate “quite violent debates”. He believes that the key to a better atmosphere is through more peaceful debates: “IIt is necessary to guarantee that we are able to debate calmly, while respecting opposing opinions. We had lost this serenity and perhaps this crisis will allow us to regain it.
In an attempt to calm this atmosphere, the IEP has set up a committee of personalities, a sort of “council of wise men”. “IIt is necessary to remobilize this great silent majority of people who are reasonable and attached to the values of debate and scientific exchange to show that they are at the heart of the institution, not the active and very vocal minorities who were at the origin of the controversyassures political scientist Olivier Costa, coordinator of this committee.
Unlike the students, he believes that self-censorship is not the heart of the problem. “The idea is that people get involved again in their institution and understand that it is made up of a very large majority of people who are completely reasonable and capable of dialogue. Only a minority is systematically in very divided and violent debates .” In particular, a series of round tables on freedom and debate are organized for students and teachers. Many would like, above all, to be able to move on. Contacted, the management of the IEP did not wish to speak.