KU Leuven has lodged a complaint against far-right political activist Dries Van Langenhove and has banned the student association that hosted him from using campus facilities until 2025.
Van Langenhove, a former Vlaams Belang MP currently on trial for Holocaust denial, joined the Nationalist Student Association (NSV) for a talk about regenerative agriculture on Wednesday evening.
Students and university employees had protested against the event taking place with a petition garnering almost 1000 signatures, arguing that it contradicted the university charter for inclusion. However, KU Leuven allowed the talk to proceed based on the university's commitment to its understanding of free speech.
It quickly became clear that Van Langenhove saw the talk as an opportunity to promote racist, sexist and "anti-woke" discourse, and regenerative agriculture was only briefly mentioned at the beginning and end of his speech.
In the fallout, KU Leuven has stated that "NSV can no longer use the university's infrastructure until at least the end of 2025." The university will also file a criminal complaint against Van Langenhove's discussion points as they "incite racism and go against the core values of the university."
Hate speech
During the event, Van Langenhove attacked the "leftist agenda", arguing with little evidence that inequality was natural given the biological differences between genders and races.
"White men are more often in a powerful position," he told the audience. "Women are more likely to practice care professions, such as nurses or teachers. Black men are more likely to end up in prison and black women are more likely to end up in sales. Those are just facts."
People gather in front of KU Leuven to protest the far-right event, in Leuven, Wednesday 28 February 2024. Credit: Belga / Ine Gillis
The ex-MP alluded to colonialism in a positive light, suggesting that black people "should be grateful" to white men for taking them out of Africa. He also made deeply prejudiced comments about the Roma community and non-European migrants.
Van Langenhove founded the group Schild & Vrienden in 2010. Known for promoting anti-Semitic, racist and sexist discourse, seven members including Van Langenhove are on trial for racism and anti-Semitism following an incriminating message exchange between them. A court ruling will be issued on 12 March.
'Not an opinion but a crime'
It is not the first time that the event hosts, NSV, have found themselves at the centre of controversy. The association hosted Austrian far-right activist Mark Sellner last year and provoked uproar when members were photographed making white supremacist gestures next to Sellner.
In an open letter published ahead of Wednesday's event, 17 KU Leuven staff members condemned their employer's tendency to be "reactive" rather than "proactive" in the face of racism and prejudice on campus. They argued that the Sellner incident justified condemnation of the Van Langenhove talk before it took place.
"As a university, if we really consider diversity to be a positive thing, a proactive and vigorous anti-discrimination policy is a matter of course," they wrote. "After all, racism and discrimination are not an opinion but a crime."
