Several Science Po Paris campuses are still blocked and the establishment announced the closure of its main premises this Friday. A debate was organized this Thursday, May 2, 2024 between the administration of the establishment and the students asking the management to break partnerships with Israeli universities. No agreement was ultimately reached.
4 mins
Things started off well this Thursday morning. Three hundred lucky students, according to them, were able to register to participate in this closed-door debate. A debate which was held calmly and which was to show that at Sciences Po, we are capable of debating calmly.
The students demand that full transparency be made about the partnerships that the school maintains with Israeli universities. But in the last minutes, the director of Sciences Po dampened the spirits somewhat when he explained that these partnerships would continue and that the police intervention, on April 26, 2024, was justified.
Last Friday, the CRS intervened on rue Saint-Guillaume to evacuate and put an end to a demonstration by pro-Palestinian students. During the debate, the director of Sciences Po, Jean Bassères, assured that this was the best possible option so that things did not get worse. The director of Sciences Po even went further by explaining that if he had to call back the police for a new mobilization, he would do so.
Read alsoMobilization for Gaza at Sciences Po: “We have a fairly active culture of political protest”
Hunger-strike
Afterwards, the students left the amphitheater quite disappointed. “ Two and a half hours wasted during the exam period », Confided a student. “ We didn’t get much out of it ”, slipped another. “ Unfortunately, it is clear that we are heard when we are in more demanding positions », Estimates a master’s student.
Even the pro-Israeli Jewish students who participated in the debate were left wanting more. They regret that the school management did not strongly condemn the anti-Semitism of certain students. The debate has reached its limits.
The students do not seem to want to continue the dialogue, but rather take more concrete actions. As of this Thursday afternoon, the Sciences Po Palestine Committee indicated that several students had started a hunger strike. Others will mobilize even during the exam period: “ I have midterms in three days, but we are faced with this news. And we can only be present here. »
Hicham, member of the Palestine Committee, talks about the hunger strike of a comrade
Faced with the planned actions, Sciences Po management announced Thursday evening the closure of its main premises on Friday in Paris, in a message sent to employees. “ Following the student occupation vote, the buildings at 25, 27, 30, rue Saint-Guillaume and 56, rue des Saints-Pères, will remain closed tomorrow, Friday May 3. We invite you to remain teleworking », Indicates this message, sent by the human resources department of Sciences Po.
Other students promise to continue mobilization in the streets. And from Friday May 3, at the call of France Insoumise, environmentalists, socialists and dozens of student associations, a gathering of pro-Palestinian students is planned at Place du Panthéon, right next to the Sorbonne. It will also be a way of supporting Sciences Po students.
Read alsoPro-Palestinian mobilization: the Île-de-France region suspends its funding to Sciences Po
Directors of establishments call for regaining control in the dialogue
In Lille, the Institute of Political Studies remained closed this Thursday after an attempted blockade. According to Étienne Peyrat, director of Sciences Po Lille, we must be careful about instrumentalization and not “ become Americanized » : « What we need is for establishments to be able to express themselves what they have to say about their mission and for it not to be others who speak for us, for political actors to stop exploiting the world of higher education. »
During the day, the Minister of Higher Education, Sylvie Retailleau, brought together around fifteen officials by videoconference to remind them of the tools in their possession to prevent abuses. At the University of Clermont-Auvergne, in the center of the country, the debate exists and so much the better, welcomes its president Mathieu Bernard. But he remains vigilant to ensure that three red lines are not crossed.
The first limit is that the debate must remain a debate with the capacity to express a plurality of expressions […]. The second element is in the nature of the remarks that must be made […]. The third red line is in the modalities of action. The occupation of university premises is not acceptable.
Mathieu Bernard, University of Clermont-Auvergne
Read alsoSolidarity with Gaza: in the Middle East too, mobilization is felt