As a critic of Islamism, Susanne Schröter was frequently targeted. Now her research center in Frankfurt is closing.

This week's sentence of Islamist terrorist Issa al-Hasan to life imprisonment followed by preventive detention once again demonstrated the acute threat Islamism poses to public safety in Germany. Last year, Hasan murdered three people and injured eight others with a knife at a town festival in Solingen, while shouting "Allahu akbar."

Beyond the threat posed, almost everything else about the phenomenon of Islamism is the subject of intense debate: how it differs from Islam, what its socioeconomic causes are, and how Islamist radicalization can be prevented.

The Frankfurt Research Center for Global Islam (FFGI), founded in 2014 by Susanne Schröter, now professor emeritus of anthropology, is dedicated to precisely these questions. It is located at Goethe University, but is not anchored in the "organizational structure," as the university's press officer stated in response to an inquiry.

The think tank was initially linked to Schröter's professorship and continued as of 2023 as part of Schröter's Goethe Research Professorship, which was funded by third-party funds. With the scheduled expiration of this professorship at the end of September, the center will also be dissolved. Two employees will not be retained.

"There is no longer any critical Islamic studies at universities in Germany," Schröter stated in an interview with the NZZ, for which she is a frequent guest author. Islamic studies at universities are "almost exclusively affirmative": Critical research on non-jihadist currents of Islam, for example, is largely rejected or suspected of anti-Muslim racism. In contrast, the FFGI aims to make liberal and extremist currents of Islam visible.

Schröter complains of "bullying campaigns" against her and the FFGI. She criticizes a threat to academic freedom, which she attributes to the "dominance of postcolonial theory." Has the Frankfurt Research Center for Global Islam fallen victim to a cancel campaign?

At the beginning of her academic career, Schröter, as an anthropologist, primarily focused on religious and political issues in Southeast Asia. Since the founding of the FFGI, she has broadened her research focus. She has published several books and frequently appeared in the media. These statements were not always directly related to her research.

Her most recently published book, for example, which deals with the "woke left" that threatens "science, culture, and society," was described by the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" as a "polemic" with an "alarmist tone." Nevertheless, the paper acknowledges that Schröter "does have some merit" in her criticism of a developing alliance between Islamists and leftists.

When the end of the FFGI became imminent, she hoped to find a successor for her chair with a focus on Islamic studies, Schröter explains. At the time, she raised funds for an "early appointment" so that her position could have been filled during her term. However, this succession process failed, and a "very suitable" person, according to Schröter, was not appointed. Now, a Mexico expert has taken over the position.

When contacted, a Goethe University spokesperson explained that an "appointment committee, designed to select the best candidates," was responsible. He added that the shift in the focus of professorships when professors retire is "almost always the case in university operations."

The conferences organized by the center, which are also aimed at a non-academic public, are the "heart" of the research center, according to a brochure. Linked to this is the "effort to make scientific research results available to our society." The center acts as a contact point for institutions, authorities, and the media.

This approach to applied science, combined with the center's anti-Islamic profile, led Schröter to accuse the FFGI of being unscientific, even activist. A 2023 article in the Islamic studies magazine "Zenith" spoke of a "discrepancy between claim and reality." The center, for example, lacked the necessary number of scholarly publications to be scientifically relevant. In a reply, Schröter accused the authors of the text of "half-knowledge" and of being unfamiliar with the "publication practices" of different disciplines.

At the FFGI conferences on migration, Islamism, and antisemitism following the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023, Schröter faced massive hostility, something rather unusual in the academic world. As early as 2019, anonymous students called for her dismissal and declared her a racist at a conference she hosted on the Islamic headscarf.

A conference on migration management in April 2023 erupted into a scandal. Tübingen's mayor, Boris Palmer, was insulted as a Nazi by counter-demonstrators and responded by saying the chants were similar to the "Star of David." Furthermore, he repeatedly used the N-word in his subsequent speech.

In the aftermath, the FFGI was publicly criticized by the university president. The center distanced itself from Palmer and was nevertheless the target of an open letter from more than 200 academics, including many anthropologists, accusing the center of condoning racism. The FFGI, in turn, defended itself with counter-letters and expressions of solidarity.

From around this point onward, the FFGI project appears to have slowed down: Where previously guest contributions from associated researchers were published on the website, one now finds mainly open letters, messages of solidarity, and references to Schröter's work. Distinguishing her own work from that of the center became more difficult from the outside.

In addition to herself and the doctoral students she supervised, Schröter explains that it was increasingly volunteers who organized conferences and worked for the center. She also explains that the university transferred Schröter's most important employee to another position because he was a university employee.

At the same time, the threat level had intensified. Schröter speaks of a "climate of hostility." Because the center could not afford security and wanted to avoid disruptions, its last international conference at the end of August of this year was not even publicly advertised.

The university's executive board defends itself against the accusation that it failed to adequately protect the FFGI against hostility. A spokesperson explains that the university has "always taken a stand for academic freedom and against calls for boycotts." However, scientists must also exercise this freedom responsibly. The gist of the claim is that protests against events must be tolerated.

In addition to the persistent criticism and loud protests that have accompanied her events in recent years, Susanne Schröter has received considerable support from politicians. When contacted, the Hesse CDU parliamentary group described the FFGI as a "flagship project" whose "outstanding scientific and social significance" they intend to continue supporting.

Schröter can envision something: She would like to see a comparable research center at the state or federal level, she says. Outside the constraints of a university. Whether she can count on the support of the Hesse CDU parliamentary group is uncertain: the group vaguely stated that they want to develop a "viable solution." But Susanne Schröter will likely remain involved in the public debate even without her Islamic Research Center.