Neglect of teaching may be common in Germany – but punishment less so

In 2007, a book made waves in Germany by alleging that academics commonly get up to all sorts of unethical behaviour, including delegating their assigned teaching to others, rather than doing it themselves.

Much has changed in German academia since the book, whose allusive title roughly translates as Professor Misdeed: What is rotten behind the scenes at universities, was published, but the delegation of classes to doctoral students still occurs. It is certainly not unusual for PhD students – who are reliant on the professor’s patronage – to prepare lectures, set and mark exams, and even accompany the professor to the lecture hall to ensure that the technical side runs smoothly when he or she presents the material. Some might even be asked to deliver the lectures themselves.

A case in point is that of well-known virologist Alexander Kekulé, whose 2021 suspension by the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg for neglecting his teaching was recently deemed justified by the Higher Administrative Court of Saxony-Anhalt.

Kekulé, who was director of the university’s Institute for Medical Microbiology, became a familiar face during the coronavirus pandemic for his early warning about the dangers of not addressing it and his criticisms of politicians and scientists who played down its seriousness.

However, according to reports, it was also precisely during this period that he neglected his teaching duties. In the 2020 summer semester, the university claims, he delegated his teaching, while during the 2020-21 winter semester, he allegedly did not deliver his digital lectures live, as was required, and only made his slides available after the end of the lecture period.

Kekulé has not been allowed to teach or research at the university since December 2021: a common procedure, according to reports, when it is expected that removal from civil service status (which all German academics enjoy) will be announced after the formal disciplinary proceedings. Since April 2022, he has also had 20 per cent of his salary docked, and is likely to lose his civil service pension.

Kekulé, who is due to retire in September anyway, said he “cannot relate to the reasons for the dismissal”. Others are puzzled too, and some see darker motives in the university’s behaviour than protecting the student experience.

One critic of the dismissal, blogger Benjamin Goldstein, argues that the university merely investigated “trivial workplace violations”, caused partly by laboratory restrictions during the pandemic. These would also have affected other academics, but the system “only went after Kekulé”. Goldstein also complains of the aggressive nature of the suspension, by means of a letter from the university that did not actually specify the allegations, but simply supported the punitive measures in principle. He makes the point that political motivations are never stated outright but conveyed in terms of surrogate claims about something else.

Kekulé was certainly critical of Germany’s response to Covid-19. According to Die Welt, he went as far as to make allegations about dishonest politicians, “unscientific scientists and a monstrous waste of public money”, as well as the many unnecessary deaths he believed that Germany’s inadequate reaction to the pandemic had caused. This, and his demands for a full investigation, undoubtedly made him powerful enemies.  

It certainly wouldn’t be the first time a German academic had fallen foul of the political authorities. Coincidentally, when writing this article, I heard a podcast on Hoffmann von Fallersleben, a professor of German language and literature, who was deprived of his chair in 1842 as a consequence of his cynically titled Unpolitische Lieder: Apolitical Songs, which were anything but, and seriously offended the Prussian authorities.

But it may be that Kerkulé’s worst enemies were closer to home than the Bundestag. Kekulé explained to Focus Magazine that there was a “long run-up to the entire matter” because, for years, he had been demanding appropriate personnel and equipment for his microbiological institute and complained that the working conditions there were “very stressful for my employees and myself”.

The university denies any improper motives for its treatment of Kerkulé. In a statement, it says the proceedings against him are “based solely on a breach of his official duties. A full professor is (among other things) obliged to teach courses in person. It is a core duty of their employment. This was violated for three semesters, disciplinary proceedings were initiated, and the university lecturer was temporarily suspended.”

The disciplinary proceedings have not yet been finalised and we don’t know the full facts of the case, but it remains striking that Kerkulé has been suspended for more than two years when there are undoubtedly many cases of professors in Germany getting away with all manner of seriously unethical conduct, including research fraud, rigged appointment procedures and stolen authorship. So many observers are still left wondering why exactly Kekulé has been held so sternly to account for his own alleged misdeeds – and whether the punishment fits the offence.

Brian Bloch is a journalist, academic editor and lecturer in English for academic research at the University of Münster.