Students from the Grenoble Institute of Political Studies who accused two of their professors of Islamophobia were released by a disciplinary body, which went against the recommendations of the Minister of Higher Education, announced the IEP in a press release.
To read also "Islamophobia": how a quarrel between teachers imploded the IEP of Grenoble
The disciplinary section of the University of Clermont-Auvergne, where the case had been disoriented, on Thursday released 16 of the 17 students, only one being the subject of a
"sanction of temporary exclusion pronounced suspended"
, according to the press release. of the direction of the IEP, which says
"take note"
of this decision, revealed by
Le Monde on
Friday. The press release, published Thursday, does not specify the motivations of this disciplinary committee. However, they go against the position of Minister Frédérique Vidal, who called in
Le Figaro at the
beginning of May for the IEP to
quickly
“sanction”
the students who had publicly defamed professors, in support of the conclusions ofa commissioned report on the case.
"Awkwardness"
On March 4, students put up posters at the entrance to the institute accusing two professors by name of
“Islamophobia”
, then relayed on social networks by student unions, including UNEF (classified on the left).
The case had triggered the opening by the prosecution of an investigation for "public insult".
The government denounced the
“endangerment”
of teachers by these students, targeting in particular the Unef, which had recognized an
“awkward and dangerous”
initiative
.
"All the players in this affair have committed errors of appreciation, clumsiness, more or less serious shortcomings and faults"
, underlined this report from the National Education Inspectorate.
But for the inspection, the main culprits remained the students who accused the two professors of
"Islamophobia"
or relayed these accusations on social networks. All the more so as she indicated that she had not found, during her investigation,
"any testimony allowing to accredit the rumors of Islamophobia"
of the two professors. On March 10, the director of the IEP, Sabine Saurugger, had
"very clearly condemned"
the posters. On the other hand, she felt that one of the teachers targeted had made
"extremely problematic"
remarks
about Islam.
At the origin of the accusations, we find in particular, in November and December 2020, an exchange of vehement emails about a course on Islam between a German teacher, whose name was mentioned on the posters, and a historian.
In its press release Thursday, the management said it hoped that these decisions
"will consolidate the constructive dialogue started with all the communities of the establishment since the start of the school year".
It
“firmly defends freedom of expression and academic freedom, freedom of association and the right to organize.
These freedoms are also accompanied by individual responsibilities that all members of the university community undertake to respect ”.