Administrative Court confirms 2nd deselection of the rector of the HfG Karlsruhe in summary proceedings

The second deselection of the rector of the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (HfG) is presumably legally effective according to a decision of the Administrative Court on 05.05.2023. The HfG is thus no longer obliged to provisionally allow Jan Boelen to continue in his position as rector.

As recently as March of this year, the Karlsruhe Administrative Court had followed the rector's request for interim legal protection and had declared the second deselection illegitimate. The HfG and the state subsequently appealed against this decision to the next higher instance, the Administrative Court of the State of Baden-Württemberg (VGH). The VGH (Verwaltungsgerichtshof) followed these appeals. The rector's application for provisional legal protection and for reinstatement in office was rejected in its entirety.

In March 2022, the HfG had conducted an initial deselection procedure against Rector Jan Boelen in accordance with Section 18a of the State Higher Education Act (Landeshochschulgesetz). At the beginning of November 2022, Boelen returned to the HfG after the Administrative Court had declared the first deselection invalid, also in summary proceedings, due to a formal error. As early as December 2022, however, the required majority of professors voted him out again. The rector also took legal action against this in summary proceedings, was upheld by the Karlsruhe Administrative Court in March 2023 and returned to the HfG once again. The VGH has now revised this decision. The decision in the preliminary legal protection proceedings is unappealable.

"We are very relieved and hope that we can now concentrate on our actual task, the provision of an excellent environment for studying and teaching at the university" explained the Prorector Prof. Constanze Fischbeck in this regard.

(Press release, May 09, 2023)