What does AfD’s landslide victory mean for German universities?
The AfD’s election victory in Saxony-Anhalt last Sunday may also have implications for the state’s two universities. The far-right party wants to ideologically reform the universities in a way that jeopardises their academic freedom. Folia spoke to Wiebke Pittlik from the Germany Institute.
A chair in demography and an institute for the critique of Islam? And a freeze on funding for all gender and postcolonial studies? If Alternative für Deutschland were to implement all its plans, this could well become a reality for the two universities in Saxony-Anhalt, Halle and Magdeburg. Following last Sunday’s election victory, ideological influence from the new government has, in any case, become a scenario that must be taken into account, argues Wiebke Pittlik, affiliated with the Germany Institute and editor-in-chief of Deutschlandweb.
The AfD’s election manifesto contained far-reaching plans for higher education, which essentially amount to a far-right reorientation. Pittlik: “One of the AfD’s most prominent parliamentary group members in the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament, Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, is himself a researcher specialising in Islam. He wants to establish an institute for critical Islamic studies and create a chair there. He also wants a chair in demography, which would investigate how to ensure that more children are born in Germany – German children.”
Constitution
It is by no means certain that Tillschneider, a logical choice as state minister for education, would be able to implement those plans unquestioningly in a potential AfD government. “The AfD must, of course, abide by the constitution, and there is also a constitutional court at state level,” explains Pittlik. “Any citizen who feels their fundamental rights have been infringed can take their case there.”
However, the federal states are key players in the funding of science and education. According to Pittlik, an AfD government could therefore attempt to cut funding for academic fields the party disapproves of: “Anything to do with gender studies and diversity would simply no longer receive any funding. They could then shut down all sorts of programmes designed to promote diversity or, for example, international exchange.”
Weltoffen
The fact that Tillschneider and his colleagues have managed to win so many seats is a cause for concern among various educational institutions. For instance, the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), an organisation responsible for the internationalisation of education in Germany, has called for the protection of academic freedom and the autonomy of higher education. “And also to remain weltoffen,” adds Pittlik, “cosmopolitan”. According to her, Saxony-Anhalt actually needs international academics, but they would not be welcome at an AfD-run university. “And this despite the fact that Saxony-Anhalt is a region experiencing population decline. They need international staff to keep the university running. So there’s a lot at stake.”
According to Pittlik, the universities themselves are responding slowly to the threat. Last June, she visited the University of Halle, Saxony-Anhalt’s second-largest city, where she spoke to a researcher involved in a working group looking at what the university can do to protect itself against an AfD government. “He said: “Yes, there isn’t really a sense of urgency yet; they haven’t really woken up here at the university”. Universities are incredibly cumbersome organisations. It simply takes too long before anything actually changes.”
Meanwhile, the AfD has been harassing academics in Saxony-Anhalt for some time now, says Pittlik “The AfD is already doing quite a lot to make life difficult for academics. A prominent biologist and sexologist at Merseburg University of Applied Sciences has been the victim of a smear campaign by AfD politicians for years. He argues that there are not just two genders, and that landed him on a blacklist, a researcher from the University of Halle told us. As a result, he is receiving genuine threats – physical threats. The institution can offer such a person little protection; they actually have no strategy for this at all. We’ve had similar issues here at the UvA, by the way. Security – how do we actually go about that?”
It remains to be seen how universities will defend themselves against state interference. Moreover, the AfD government isn’t in place yet. Pittlik: “The election results still leave room for various options. They didn’t secure an absolute majority. So it’s still uncertain. But the likelihood is, in any case, so high that universities must assume it could happen. So they need to prepare for it.”
