At Sciences-Po Paris, announcements to avoid reliving the incidents of last spring

Louise Sallé / Photo credit: LAURE BOYER / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP 2:13 p.m., September 4, 2024

Sciences-Po Paris was shaken last spring by a series of mobilizations, linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict, some of which had degenerated. To avoid reliving such a scenario, the institution made announcements this Wednesday during a back-to-school conference.

A Jewish student banned from a conference, pro-Palestinian mobilizations… Last spring, the conflict between Israel and Hamas shook Sciences-Po Paris, where future political elites are trained. While waiting for its new director, it was the provisional administrator of the establishment, Jean Bassères, who announced several new developments this Wednesday during a back-to-school conference.

Objective: to avoid further drifts on the situation in the Middle East. First and second year students will take a course on freedom of expression in September, with reference to certain gestures that may have shocked during the mobilizations. “It is a course given by a law professor, which lasts two hours and aims to clarify the rules of freedom of expression in France, including on social networks. It is a desire, at least, to clarify a concept that is not necessarily known by Sciences-Po students, but, I believe, by many French people, moreover,” explains Jean Bassères.

“We have zero tolerance”

A dozen lectures will also be held to explain the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its history. In addition, the school had faced the wrath of donors who had withdrawn their funding and public subsidies had also been suspended.

“New donors have arrived and overall, we are more or less stable on the 2023 partnerships. Regarding public partnerships, there are the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Île-de-France regions which have suspended their subsidies, but we are in discussions with them and I think we will reassure them on the issue of racism and anti-Semitism. And I had the opportunity to indicate to Valérie Pécresse all the efforts that Sciences-Po was making on these subjects. We have zero tolerance and I am hopeful that financial relations will resume,” specifies Jean Bassères. Finally, a mission to reflect on Sciences-Po’s positioning with regard to conflicts is being conducted internally. Its conclusions will be released in the fall.