Is there a pilot in universities? Policymakers seem to doubt this and are sending reminders of the law to school management in the context of student mobilization to end the Israeli-led war in Palestine. On Friday, October 4, as the anniversary of the massacres of October 7, 2023 in Israel approaches, the Minister of Higher Education, Patrick Hetzel, wanted to underline in a circular addressed to school directors “their responsibility in preserving academic freedom and their role in preventing potential security risks”.
Now it is the president of the Ile-de-France region, Valérie Pécresse, who steps forward. On Friday, November 15, the permanent commission of the regional council must deliberate on the issue of a “republican charter for higher education establishments” whose main objective is “Reformulate the law at a time when active minorities can question it”.
The disruptions affecting Sciences Po in particular since spring 2024 continue. At the Paris University of Sciences and Letters (PSL), on November 6, students occupied the Ecole Normale Supérieure and were evacuated by the police the next day. The same thing happened at the School of Mines, which was briefly occupied with the aim of denouncing the associations that link the PSL with Israeli universities and companies. “involved in military-industrial equipment” of the country.
“Indoctrination attempts”
Financing against signature: this is the contract that the regional president wants to transfer to the universities and Grandes Écoles, which will subordinate their financial support to compliance with the fundamental principles established in the six articles contained in the document. In 2023, of a hundred public and private establishments in the Ile-de-France region, thirty have been subsidized by the Ile-de-France region, for a total amount of 70 million euros, it states. World the regional council.
The “Republican Charter” indicates the commitment of universities with “respect the laws of the Republic” as well as “freedom of expression under conditions that do not prejudice teaching and research activities and that do not disturb public order.” “Whatever your personal beliefs are”a teacher-researcher, a student, administrative staff or even “an external guest” called to express themselves must “respect the values of the Republic”and the establishment must “look”Article 2 provides.
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