The director of the University of Cologne withdraws the invitation to the American philosopher Nancy Fraser because he considers that her criticism of Israel goes too far. Scientists are horrified.

After Nancy Fraser's invitation was withdrawn, she was harshly criticized by scientists: Joybrato Mukherjee, director of the University of Cologne Photo: Christoph Soeder/dpa

SEDAN taz | “It is with great regret that we inform you that the 2024 Albertus Magnus Professorship with Nancy Fraser will not take place as planned,” explains the University of Cologne on its website. All events originally planned between May 15 and 17 would be canceled. The reason: the university withdrew the invitation to the well-known American philosopher because her criticism of Israel went too far.

Specifically, he blames Fraser for his signature on the open letter “Philosophy for Palestine.” The letter “calls into question Israel's right to exist as an 'ethno-suprematist state' since its founding in 1948,” according to a statement from the university published last Friday. According to another accusation, the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel on October 7, 2023 is also “rightly put into perspective.” The letter would also call for “an academic and cultural boycott of Israeli institutions.”

The controversial “Philosophy for Palestine” letter was published in November and to date has been signed by 200 scholars, including luminaries such as Etienne Balibar, Angela Davis, Owen Flanagan and Judith Butler. But the letter also drew strong criticism, including from Turkish-American political scientist and philosopher Seyla Benhabib. Apparently, in Cologne people did not notice anything. Only after the invitations were sent out in March did the faculty report this.

“In view of your support for this statement, I regret that I have to withdraw my invitation,” the rector of the University of Cologne, Joybrato Mukharjee, wrote to Fraser at the time. “I would love to share with you the reasons for this decision in a telephone conversation or video call.”

Personal decision of the director of the University of Cologne

The English student Mukherjee, who is also president of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), represents the German situation with great commitment. In January, for example, he invited Israeli ambassador Ron Prosor, a right-wing hardliner, to give a lecture at the university. Mukherjee tried to stop the protests in advance. Therefore, he imposed a temporary ban on three students who had registered for the event. The administrative court in Cologne granted an urgent request from the students and overturned the housing ban in time.

Mukherjee has also personally taken the decision to disinvite Fraser. The Albertus Magnus Chair is “a central matter for the rector” with great symbolic power and is perceived as a “special honor” of the university, according to a university statement. The statements in the philosophers' letter are not compatible with the university's position and “with our intense relations with Israeli partner institutions.” Ironically, Fraser – like many of the signatories – is of Jewish origin, but that does not deter the university and its record.

Fraser addressed criticism of the open letter in an interview with the Austrian newspaper in November. default put in In it, he criticized “the brutality and sickening violence of the attack carried out by Hamas attackers on October 7” and did not question Israel's right to exist. What is more serious, however, is that in the open letter Fraser defended an academic boycott of Israeli institutions, which Mukherjee rejects.

Scientists protest

Many scientists are horrified by Nancy Fraser's withdrawal of her invitation to Cologne. This is a “further attempt to limit public and academic debate about Israel and Palestine by referring to supposedly clear and officially defined red lines,” more than 30 professors write in a joint statement.

Scientists “who represent supposedly problematic positions” should be excluded from the debate, “even if, as in the case of Nancy Fraser, neither their own work nor the planned events deal with the conflict in Israel and Palestine at all.”

Among the signatories are the philosophers Alice Crary, Sally Haslanger, Rahel Jaeggi, Andrea Maihofer and Julia Rebentisch, as well as the sociologists Klaus Dörre, Axel Honneth, Stephan Lessenich, Oliver Nachtwey and Hartmut Rosa. Seyla Benhabib is there too.

The actions of the Cologne Rectorate contradict the great value of academic freedom and international exchange, according to the statement. The scientists asked Mukherjee to withdraw the invitation from him, otherwise it would cause “further serious damage to academic life in this country”.

Not the first time

The case is also causing a sensation on social networks. This marks “a new low,” Lucio Baccaro, director of Cologne's Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, wrote on Facebook on Friday. “I cannot imagine a clearer threat to academic and general freedom.” Lawyer Ralf Michaels, director of the Max Planck Institute for Private Foreign and International Law in Hamburg, called the accusations against Faeser in Platform .

In February there was already a similar case. The Max Planck Society had parted ways with renowned Lebanese-Australian anthropologist Ghassan Hage, whom it had only invited as a guest researcher to its Halle institute in 2023.

After October 7, Hage expressed his anger on social media about the Gaza war and its victims. Therefore, the Max Planck Hage Society stated in a press release that they had “damaged science” with his statements, which is why they had ended their collaboration with him. Hage has announced that he will take legal action against his expulsion.