Storm warning at the Grenoble Institute of Political Studies (IEP). Klaus Kinzler, a professor of German and German civilization, was suspended from his duties for four months by the management of the establishment in mid-December. Accused of Islamophobia in March by students of the school, the teacher is today in the sights of the IEP for having made “defamatory remarks”. Criticizing this decision, the president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Laurent Wauquiez, announced, Monday, December 20, to suspend subsidies granted by the community to the Grenoble school each year. A look back at this affair in five acts.
1End of 2020: discussions around the term “Islamophobia”
The first tensions between Klaus Kinzler and his students date back to the end of 2020. In November, the teacher exchanges emails with a history teacher about a day of debates entitled “Racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia” organized at the IEP. The term “Islamophobia” poses a problem for this professor of German civilization, because for him, it is not based on any scientific certainty.
Vindictive emails exchanged informally with his colleague, Klaus Kinzler quickly goes to publications on his blog. According to France Inter, he writes in particular “not to like this religion very much” (Islam) adding that it makes him “frankly scared, like many French people”. He later apologizes, grateful “to get carried away”. But the anger of certain IEP Grenoble students is starting to mount.
2March 4, 2021: the teacher described as “fascist” by students
Four months later, the affair suddenly takes on a national dimension. Klaus Kinzler’s name and that of another teacher are plastered on the front of the school on March 4, along with the following words: “Fascists in our lecture halls. Islamophobia kills.” A banner that then hastened to relay on social networks several student unions, including the Unef.
The leadership of the IEP condemns “very clearly” the actions of his students against the two teachers. An investigation for “degradation” and “public insults” is also opened by the prosecution of Grenoble. Frédérique Vidal, Minister of Higher Education and Research, denounces “insults” and “pressures” Who “have no place in higher education”.
3Between March and December: a long standoff with the management
Sabine Saurugger, director of the IEP, told AFP at the time that the professor was called to order for his comments. In order not to aggravate the situation, she asks “five times” to Klaus Kinzler not to respond to requests from the media, according to Le Figaro. “If you are solicited by journalists on these news, send the email or contact to the communication department who, in agreement with me, will give the answer best suited to the communication strategy that has been chosen “, she also wrote in an email addressed to all the staff.
“As a director and your hierarchical superior, I therefore hope that you do not respond to requests from the media on matters of internal affairs at the IEP”, she specifies directly to the teacher, always according to the daily newspaper.
But Klaus Kinzler does not listen to the instructions of his direction and multiplies the interviews, at the beginning of December, at Marianne, the opinion or even on CNews. Three high profile interviews in which the German professor describes the IEP as an institute of “political re-education“, accusing a “hard core” colleagues to defend, according to him, theories “woke”.
4December 14: Klaus Kinzler is laid off
These media outings strongly displeased Sabine Saurugger. The director of Sciences Po Grenoble accuses the teacher of having held “defamatory remarks against the establishment in which he is stationed as well as against the person of his director” and to have “seriously undermined the professional integrity of his work colleagues”.
It therefore decides, by a decree of December 14, to suspend the teacher from his duties for a period of four months and announces that the disciplinary council of the establishment will be seized. “as soon as possible”. A decision contested by Klaus Kinzler and his lawyers who denounce a witch hunt. The latter believe that their client “was forced to speak in order to defend himself” after being implicated “in the public square”.
5December 20: the region suspends subsidies to the IEP
“Sciences Po Grenoble has been in an unacceptable ideological and communitarian drift for too long”, reacted the president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region Laurent Wauquiez.“This is not my conception of the Republic: the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region therefore suspends all funding and all cooperation with the establishment”, LR president of the regional council tweeted Monday, December 20.
A choice “Politics” of the former minister whom the leadership of the IEP regrets. In a press release dated Tuesday and quoted by France 3, she assures that the financial support of the region – around 100,000 euros per year – does not correspond to subsidies, “but mainly in the allocation of scholarships to students”. The management of the Grenoble establishment therefore asks Laurent Wauquiez to “to reverse its decision in the interest of the students”.
“The IEP is a republican establishment where we train young men and women to become decision-makers of tomorrow. It is an establishment where we respect secularism, the strictest freedom of expression and academic freedom”, supported the director, interviewed by franceinfo. Sabine Saurugger also recalls that “Laurent Wauquiez has been a member of the IEP Grenoble board of directors for many years” and assure that she would be “very happy” to discuss with him the evolution of the establishment.