KU Leuven university has filed a complaint against student mosque International Muslim Student Association Leuven (IMSAL) after a sexist lecture was held there, Apache reported on Friday.
"A woman without a headscarf will never be able to be a role model," is one of the statements Adam El M'Rabet made during a lecture in the mosque of the IMSAL this autumn. El M'Rabet further lashed out at women in general, feminists and teachers.
KU Leuven reported the statements to the Flemish Human Rights Institute. "The statements cannot be reconciled with the values KU Leuven stands for," the university said in a written response. "We are asking the Human Rights Institute to investigate the statements, and are ourselves engaging with IMSAL vzw, the organisation that runs the student mosque and organised the lecture."
While IMSAL is an independent organisation, it is housed in a building at Leuven University.
'Radiating openness'
"We provide spaces for religious and cultural celebrations of communities of students and staff whenever possible," the university stated. "We do so according to a number of established principles, such as radiating openness and giving importance to human rights."
However, the university's lease agreement with IMSAL includes "as an explicit condition" that human rights must be respected, they said. "We will also investigate the incident ourselves, as the statements violate the agreements the university has with the association."
The university further urges the non-profit organisation to publicly distance itself from the statements, investigate the matter internally and remove the recording of the lecture from their YouTube channel.
