The controversial biologist Vollbrecht wants to give a lecture on the subject of gender - this does not happen because of protests that have been announced. The Humboldt University in Berlin has been heavily criticized for the short-term cancellation. She is now reacting with a catch-up date, which should be based on the diversity of perspectives.
After the much-discussed cancellation of a lecture on the subject of sex and gender at the Humboldt University in Berlin (HU), the university has set a timely catch-up date. However, the event has a different form. A panel discussion is planned for July 14, in which the event is to be "taken up and contextualized and discussed," said HU spokesman Boris Nitzsche.
"We would like to discuss the topic from different perspectives with different actors and will also involve politics," announced Nitzsche. Federal Science Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger from the FDP and Berlin Science Senator Ulrike Gote from the Greens should be invited to the panel discussion. The controversial lecture "Sex is not (gender) sex, sex, gender and why there are two sexes in biology" by biologist Marie-Luise Vollbrecht was originally planned as part of the "Long Night of Science" on Saturday. After the announcement of protests, the university canceled the lecture - for security reasons, it was said.
"After asking the police, we canceled the event because we feared that the situation would escalate. A demonstration and a counter-demonstration were announced," said the spokesman. It must be possible for controversial people to give lectures. "Universities are currently not well positioned to handle such situations," says Nitzsche.
The linguist Anatol Stefanowitsch criticized ("A question of morality: Why we need politically correct language") on Twitter to justify the rejection with security concerns. She alleges violence. In reality, the university management or those commissioned by them with the planning "first slept during the program design and then tried" to solve the "self-caused problem hastily and with great intellectual and organizational cowardice".
The cancellation led to a heated debate: Opponents of the cancellation criticize the decision as giving in and violating academic freedom. The university has done academic freedom a disservice, said the President of the German University Association, Bernhard Kempen. "Instead, she should have shown her backbone and done everything to ensure that the lecture could take place," said Kempen. Universities are places of intellectual debate. "Every scientist must be able to put their research results, theses and views up for discussion without fear." Differences to those who think differently are to be settled in argumentative disputes.
Other voices find the biologist's statements highly problematic in the gender debate. The group "Working Group of Critical Lawyers" had called for a protest. Vollbrecht's statement that there are only two genders in biology was "unscientific", "inhuman" and "anti-queer and trans*", according to a statement. Vollbrecht's lecture can be found on YouTube and had around 45,000 hits this early afternoon. In it, the researcher explains why, in her opinion, there are only two biological sexes and that biological sex should be distinguished from social sex (gender). She doesn't want anything bad for anyone, said Vollbrecht in the "RBB-Abendschau". "I've always said: It's all about biology here. It's not about politics or opinions outside the university."
Vollbrecht was criticized along with other authors in June. In a "Welt" article, you wrote critically about public service broadcasting, where, in your opinion, "the fact that there are only two sexes" had been "denied" in broadcasts. The post also said children were "indoctrinated" and "intrusively sexualized."
At the weekend, HU spokeswoman Birgit Mangelsdorf explained to "faz.net" that the "opinions" that Vollbrecht represented in the article were not in line with the HU's mission statement and the values it represents. "We therefore expressly distance ourselves from the article and the opinions expressed in it," said Mangelsdorf. Spokesman Nitzsche said the decision to cancel the lecture had nothing to do with the controversial article in the "Welt".
