Sciences Po Grenoble: the words of a professor were "extremely problematic"

In an interview, the director of Sciences Po Grenoble, Sabine Saurugger, returned to the controversy that has shaken his IEP for several days.

If she says that the words of one of the two professors accused of Islamophobia were "extremely problematic", she also calls for appeasement and dialogue. 

The words of one of the two professors accused of Islamophobia at Sciences Po Grenoble were "extremely problematic", said Wednesday in an interview with AFP the director of the establishment, who "very clearly condemns" the posters including the two teachers were the subject.

The lives of the two teachers "in danger"

The Institute of Political Studies (IEP) is in the grip of a sharp conflict since the posting, Thursday, March 4, of the names of two professors accused of Islamophobia, "insults" for which a judicial investigation was opened on report of the establishment.

"These posters endanger not only the lives of the two colleagues," Sabine Saurugger, director of the IEP, told AFP on Wednesday, "but also all the student communities, teachers and administrative staff".

At the origin of these accusations in particular, a vehement exchange of emails on the notion of Islamophobia, last November and December, between a German teacher, whose name was mentioned on the posters, and a historian.

This German teacher writes in particular, in extracts that he himself published for a while on his website, that he "does not like this religion very much" which sometimes makes him "frankly afraid" "as it does. fear to many French ".

>> READ ALSO -

Controversy at IEP Grenoble: for Frédérique Vidal, "student unions must question their values"

"An extremely problematic tone"

He disputes the presence of the word Islamophobia in a working group entitled "racism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism", seeing in this notion the "(imaginary) persecution of Muslim extremists (and other lost Muslims)", before acknowledging in an email d 'apologies for being "at times carried away" in these exchanges.

"I think there is a tone which is extremely problematic in his remarks, with ideas which are sometimes developed a bit quickly, and therefore a call to order and a call for dialogue have been undertaken", by the management , explained Sabine Saurugger. 

"Academic freedom is a principle that is central to Sciences Po Grenoble", continues the director, "and when this academic freedom begins to reach limits which are defined by a regulatory framework, in this case, the director must intervene, and intervened with a call to order ".

On the other hand, a course given by the second teacher, lecturer in Political Science, was the subject on February 22 of a call for testimony "very problematic" on the part of the main student union of the IEP, the Union Syndicale Sciences Po Grenoble, according to the director.

A call for "appeasement"

Because of this call for testimony, this professor had asked the students of this union "to immediately leave (his) classes and never to set foot again", according to an email which AFP obtained a copy.

This request is "clearly discriminatory" for Sabine Saurugger, despite the decision by the Grenoble prosecutor to dismiss the complaint for union discrimination filed on February 27 by the Union Syndicale.

Visibly tested by several days of controversy, Sabine Saurugger "calls for an appeasement" and "a dialogue" with students and teachers to "rebuild" Sciences Po Grenoble because, "in a way, the survival of an establishment is at stake ".