Söring Appearance at Hamburg Law School Canceled

...for now.

I finally heard from one of the organizers of Jens Söring’s appearance at the University of Hamburg Law Faculty on 19 May 2022. The event has, in fact, been canceled. The organizer claims that the cancellation had nothing to do with the complaints the University received.

No matter the reason, I applaud the faculty for making this decision. The appearance of an unrepentant double-murderer in a discussion about the US legal system and “rehabilitation” would, in my view, have been an undignified spectacle unworthy of any law school. And I am certainly not alone in this view.

The email from the organizer did not exclude the possibility that the law school will still try to stage this event at a later point. If so, I hope they invite me to ensure balance — the offer still stands. However, they probably won’t. If they try to stage the event in its present form again, they may (like others) try to do so in “stealth mode” — that is, to advertise the event only by campus handbills. If so, I would appreciate it if you could keep the tips coming.

Doubtless Söring will again claim he was the victim of “cancel culture” because the university cancelled the event. This is gross hypocrisy, for reasons which may soon become evident.

When Söring was invited to speak at wine bars or restaurants or at wellness festivals, I didn’t send a complaint to the organizers. That’s their private affair. But when Söring is invited by publicly-funded institutions — such as a German public radio station or the German-American Institute of Heidelberg — I do complain. I believe it’s inappropriate for taxpayer-funded institutions to help Söring market his story and present his controversial claims without any objective moderation or fact-checking. And I am not alone.

And for a law school, of all places, to invite him is grotesque. Jens Söring has shown utter contempt for the law, not only by his actions — murder, fraud, and perjury — but also by his relentless false accusations against everyone who participated in bringing him to justice.

To invite Jens Söring to give a speech at a law school is like inviting a tobacco-industry lobbyist to give a speech at a hospital. If it happens again, I will again do everything in my power to prevent such a travesty.