LÜNEBURG. Concerned about left-wing extremist attacks Leuphana University of Lüneburg the award ceremony at the end of the 2024 academic year did not take place. “According to information from the security authorities, it could be assumed that potentially violent political interest groups would also take action against the participation of elected officials with ties to the AfD,” the university said. State newspaper (LVZ) from Lüneburg on Monday.
The event was originally scheduled for Wednesday. In addition to representatives of other parties, the two AfD politicians Frank Rinck and Jessica Schülke were also invited. Schülke, a member of the Lower Saxony state parliament, is currently chair of the science committee in Hannover. Rinck represents the party in the Bundestag.
Background: Disruptors prevent CDU from appearing at University of Göttingen
Several demonstrations by “actors outside the university” have already been announced, about which Leuphana has been informed by the authorities. The police have already drawn up an operational plan for the event. But the protests still gave rise to fears that “the event could not have taken place in a way that was appropriate for an academic celebration”, as university president Sascha Spoun stressed in an internal letter from which the LVZ quoted.
The events in Göttingen last week also played a role in the decision a lecture by Bundestag member Mareike Wulf (CDU) was thwarted by about 200 disruptors at the university there. The Christian Democrat wanted to give a lecture on the right to self-determination in the rooms of the Georg August University. But in the end the event could not go ahead because of the loud bickering and whistling.
Göttingen: LGBTQ activists and green youth cancel lecture by CDU politician
CDU member of the Bundestag Mareike Wulf wanted to give a lecture on the subject of the self-determination law at the University of Göttingen. Activists demand tolerance and… pic.twitter.com/ZmT2P8gW2w
— Tscheness (@tscheness) June 22, 2024
AfD politician Schülke describes the university’s statement as “eyewash”
AfD politician Schülke, who is also her party’s spokesperson on science policy in the Hanover state parliament, was outraged by the short-term disinvitation. “Once places of free thinking, these have developed into places of ideologically motivated intolerance and exclusion in an academically very inappropriate way,” the politician said on Tuesday.
That the ceremony is being jeopardized by “actors outside the university” is merely window dressing. The universities themselves have become increasingly radical in recent decades. “The board of directors and deans have ignored the grievances at their universities for years – and even promoted them,” she argues.
The university is reconsidering the AfD invitation in the future
Meanwhile, the university administration announced that it would reconsider inviting politicians from the Alternative for Germany in the future. “Given that the AfD has been classified as a suspect case by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the university will re-evaluate its invitation strategy in this regard,” the report said.
The university takes a strong stand against an “inhuman, discriminatory, exclusionary, anti-Semitic, fascist or anti-scientific and anti-equality” worldview. (vw)