French academics clash with minister over ‘Islamo-leftism’ inquiry

Row over allegations of extremism in universities stokes growing culture war

French Minister of Higher Education Frédérique Vidal
Higher Education Minister Frederique Vidal
(Image credit: Alan Jocard/AFP via Getty Images)

More than 600 academics have called for France’s higher education minister to resign after she ordered an inquiry into claims that “woke” activists were helping to promote “Islamo-leftism” in universities.

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  Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.