lecturer
Police University NRW sticks to Aslan’s expulsion
Bahar Aslan taught as a lecturer at the Police University of North Rhine-Westphalia. photo
© Federico Gambarini/dpa
The university had revoked the teaching assignment of the lecturer Bahar Aslan for the coming semester. Reason was a tweet. A confidential conversation did not change anything about the university’s decision.
The Police University of North Rhine-Westphalia is sticking to the expulsion of lecturer Bahar Aslan. University President Martin Bornträger had a confidential conversation with Aslan in Gelsenkirchen last Friday, the university announced, but at the same time confirmed that the revocation of Aslan’s teaching position would not change anything.
The conversation was constructive and shaped by the common concern to further develop the topics of extremism and intercultural competence. The resulting polarization is regretted by all those involved. Both sides promised to keep in touch. Aslan had announced that he would go to court against her expulsion.
The university had revoked Aslan’s teaching assignment for the coming semester. The reason for this was the following tweet from the lecturer: “My heart starts racing when I or my friends get into a police check because all the brown dirt inside the security authorities scares us. That’s not just my reality, but that of many people in this country.”
“Unfortunate choice of words” admitted
Aslan later admitted an “unfortunate choice of words” and said she was sorry if police officers who were doing their job in an exemplary manner felt addressed. Her lawyer said it gave the impression that Aslan was “deliberately misunderstood”. Aslan exaggerated, but did not describe all police officers as “brown dirt”.
Aslan had a teaching position for “intercultural skills” at the University for Police and Public Administration (HSPV) Gelsenkirchen.