The Debate on the University as Safe Space

There has been an intensive debate on the state of academic freedom in Germany. Various issues have fueled the controversial discussion, including the invitation and subsequent criticism of politically contested lectures, the challenge of right-wing populism (and how to relate to it), and diversity management in higher education. This paper presents results from a qualitative study on this emerging and extending discourse. The empirical material stems from interviews with members of the university management, student representatives, and other engaged speakers in Germany. Furthermore, documents surrounding controversial cases, like statements and press releases, are part of the corpus data. More concretely, the presentation is devoted to the topic of “safe space” and how the heated debates surrounding this topic fuels the idea of regulation of academic speech, thereby enacting a policy perspective.