Academics need to show far more ¡°solidarity¡± towards colleagues in subjects such as gender studies that are under fire from far-right populists, one of Germany¡¯s constitutional court judges has warned, arguing that such attacks are only the first step in a broader assault on academia.

Speaking at an event on freedom of expression at universities, Susanne Baer, herself a professor of public law and gender studies at the Humboldt University of Berlin, said that some scholars had ¡°underestimated¡± the threat.

¡°Those early attacks on, say, gender studies or queer theory or critical race studies, are attacks against all of us,¡± she said.

Populists would not stop at these subjects, she warned delegates at ¡°Freedom of Expression: On the Culture of Debate at Universities¡±, an online event held by the University of Chicago and the German Rectors¡¯ Conference.

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¡°These are attacks from a script. And that script says: start with the weakest portion of the institution. Then gradually expand into the more mainstream and strong [disciplines],¡± she said.

The erosion of universities and liberal democracy would not start with attacks on law schools, she said, ¡°but it will start with queer theory at a law school¡±.

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¡°In the past, there has not been that outcry right from the start when our weaker colleagues were under pressure,¡± he warned. ¡°And that should be one strong reaction.¡±

Since 2011, Professor Baer has sat on Germany¡¯s constitutional court, the equivalent of the US Supreme Court. During a decorated academic career, she has held numerous faculty roles including a visiting position at the Central European University, an institution forced last year to largely leave Hungary by the country¡¯s increasingly authoritarian government.

During her address, she also mounted a personal defence of ¡°safe spaces¡± at universities.

¡°Safe spaces are, I think, a wonderful idea, particularly if you want to be confronted with uncomfortable ideas, and engage in learning and research,¡± she said.

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Germany¡¯s first openly lesbian constitutional court justice, Professor Baer recalled attending a basement meeting of Lavender Law ¨C an all-queer group of law students at the University of Michigan.

¡°It was the first time in my university and academic life that I felt entirely safe. Why is that?¡± she asked. It was because ¡°I was not rejected because of more or less explicit feelings about sexual orientation¡±.

Joining an association for female lawyers in Germany had been a similarly freeing experience, she continued.

¡°There was not the boring machismo around, but a space to open up for very controversial debates,¡± Professor Baer said. ¡°I have to say, I¡¯ve never seen more controversial debates than there ever in my life.¡±

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Later in the discussion, she acknowledged the theoretical ¡°risk¡± that safe spaces ¡°may reduce the opportunities of exchange and criticism in universities¡±, as some critics argue.

¡°But I don¡¯t see the reality,¡± she said. Instead, they were places where students could speak without fear of being ¡°dismissed¡± or their opinions deemed ¡°inaccurate¡± or ¡°overly emotionally stated¡±.

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¡°Some people need them, and thus universities should provide them, while the universities as a whole should take care and still engage in as diverse a debate as possible,¡± she said.

david.matthews@timeshighereducation.com