How KU Leuven Has Become a Laughing Stock: The Emperor Has No Clothes
EUROPE, 2 Jun 2025
Koenraad Priels - TRANSCEND Media Service
KU Leuven, Belgium
Introduction
26 May 2025 – There comes a point when institutional arrogance and academic self-preservation become so blatant that the only appropriate response is to expose them for what they are: a tragic farce.
KU Leuven, once a symbol of academic excellence, has now positioned itself as a textbook example of how not to respond to paradigm-shifting research in a time of escalating polycrisis.
Despite a research portfolio recognized by the United Nations, multiple peer-reviewed publications (including the most impactful in JOCRISE’s history), and the world’s first legal case against the global banking system for ecocide, KU Leuven’s criminology faculty has managed to achieve the impossible:
They have turned a world-class opportunity for academic leadership into a global punchline.
The Anatomy of Academic Farce
- Refusing to Even Review the Work:
Rather than engage with the substance, the faculty simply refused to review the research, claiming “no expertise” in human rights—at a criminology department. - Blocking Existentially Urgent Science:
The university has systematically blocked research that identifies the financial architecture as the root cause of our ecological and social collapse, despite international recognition of its significance. - Institutional Self-Parody:
In an era where universities are supposed to champion innovation and critical thinking, KU Leuven’s actions have exposed it as an institution more concerned with protecting its own image than with truth or societal relevance.
The Emperor Has No Clothes
The world is watching.
While other universities and international bodies recognize the existential urgency and innovative power of this research, KU Leuven clings to bureaucratic rituals and empty excuses. The result?
A university that once prided itself on excellence is now the subject of incredulity and ridicule among leading scholars and practitioners worldwide.
Why This Matters
This is not just about one researcher or one university.
It is about the credibility of academia in the face of existential threats. When the “best” institutions become laughing stocks, the cost is paid by society as a whole.
Conclusion
KU Leuven’s refusal to engage with paradigm-shifting research does not diminish the work—it only exposes the institution’s own irrelevance.
The emperor has no clothes, and the world is starting to laugh.
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Koenraad Priels is an independent researcher, social-ecological activist, and founder of Free-B. He has published six peer-reviewed articles, authored a UN report, and initiated the first legal case against the global interest banking system for ecocide in Belgium. He is currently applying for a PhD by publication at KULeuven, focusing on the systemic links between financial architecture, ecocide, and global inequality.
Tags: Education, European Union
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 2 Jun 2025.
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