German association slams plans to cut funding for professors defending pro-Palestinian protests

By Oliver Towfigh Nia

BERLIN (AA) - The German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) on Wednesday criticized efforts by the Education and Research Ministry to slash funding for professors defending pro-Palestinian protests on the country’s university campuses.

“In mid-May, there was apparently a request in the BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and Research) to examine the exclusion of scientists from ongoing BMBF funding after they had exercised their fundamental right to freedom of expression in connection with the Middle East conflict,” said Walter Rosenthal, president of the HRK, the association of state and state-recognized universities in Germany.

“You can have different opinions about the specific expression of opinion and argue about the content…However, linking an expression of opinion that is not subject to criminal prosecution to the question of whether scientific work is further eligible for funding would constitute a violation of academic freedom,” he added, while calling the controversial move by the Education and Research Ministry “outlandish.”

On April 8, more than 100 Germany-based academics expressed their strong support for pro-Palestine protest camps on university premises while criticizing violent police clampdowns.

“We condemn the eviction of the protest camp at the Free University of Berlin by the police and defend their right to peaceful protest, which also includes the occupation of university premises,” they said in a statement.

The group accused the university’s management of subjecting the demonstrators to “police violence.”

They called on “the Berlin university management to refrain from police operations against their own students and from further criminal prosecution. Dialogue with students and the protection of universities as spaces for the critical public should have top priority -- both of which are incompatible with police operations on campus.”

German universities, among them in Berlin, Frankfurt, Leipzig and Bremen, have been the scene of mass student protests against Israel’s military offensive in Gaza .

Demonstrations in solidarity with Palestinians under Israeli siege in Gaza have spread across university campuses in the US and Europe in recent weeks.

More than 2,000 people have been arrested at US campuses since April 18 amid heavily polarized debates over the right to protest, the limits of free speech and accusations of antisemitism.

But while clashes and standoffs with police at New York’s Columbia University, Portland State and UCLA have captured global attention, demonstrations and sit-ins are also being held on campuses in parts of Europe, including France, Holland and Switzerland. ​​​​​​​

Although protesters' demands vary by university, the vast majority of demonstrations have called for colleges to divest from companies that support Israel and the Gaza war.​​​​​​​