What Happened Last Year? An In-Depth Recap

This article originally featured in our Autumn 2024 printed edition.

For our dear 1As and exchange students who have just joined us, maybe we owe an explanation on what the hell went down on this campus. So, allow me to try to catch all of you up and review what may happen as we dive into this new year!

Image Credit: Máté Kelemen

As we kick off the new academic year, many second-year students can’t help but wonder if this year will be as turbulent as the last one. Maybe we owe an explanation to our dear 1As and exchange students as to what the hell went down on this campus. So, allow me to try to catch all of you up and review what may happen as we dive into this new year.

As you may know, Sciences Po has been, for a while now, trying to overcome issues related to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). In September 2023, students began reviewing the university’s SGBV policies and attempted to launch a dialogue between the Paris administration and the student body.

On December 3, a group of students were to meet Mathias Vicherat, then-director of Sciences Po to discuss their stance. Ironically, Mr. Vicherat was not in office as he had just been placed in police custody alongside his partner following mutual allegations of domestic violence. Mr. Vicherat denied these allegations on multiple occasions in emails to the Sciences Po community.

Outraged, the students mobilised on many campuses. In Reims, students blockaded the campus entrance on December 7, demanding the director’s resignation. Mr. Vicherat offered to temporarily withdraw from his position which was accepted by the governing bodies of Sciences Po on December 19. His reinstatement was set for January 29.

As students returned to school in January, the mobilisation continued. Students kept demanding the resignation of Mr. Vicherat, but he repeatedly declined to do so and returned to his role on January 29. This was in spite of the fact that student unions called for his resignation or the extension of his temporary withdrawal. Starting January 30, all Sciences Po sites but Dijon blockaded their campuses. In Poitiers, the blocages lasted a full week. In Reims, the campus was blockaded 3 times in 2 weeks.

In the meantime, students clashed with one another over the disruptive nature of the blocages, as some argued that the blockades were organised by an undemocratic mobilised minority. The organisers pointed out that every blockade was voted on by general assemblies that were open to all.

On March 13, Mathias Vicherat wrote in an email addressed to the Sciences Po community that he would resign as director following his referral by the police to a correctional court. In the same letter, he reiterated his denial of all accusations of domestic violence. On March 26, Jean Bassères became provisional director.

In the meantime, the Israeli invasion of Gaza prompted numerous demonstrations on university campuses around the world. This movement arrived in France in April. The Reims campus was blockaded again on April 27 by pro-Palestinian students, demanding an immediate ceasefire and Palestinian independence, following a similar demonstration in Paris the day before. On May 3, Parisian students camped inside the Saint-Guillaume campus. Jean Bassères, committed to restoring order, requested law enforcement to remove the protesters from the premises. Mr. Bassères later defended this decision, saying “if it had to be done again, I would.” This was the first time since the historic 1968 university protests that the police had entered the school grounds.

From the beginning, the protesters’ demands included breaking ties with Israeli organisations “complicit in the ongoing oppression of the Palestinian people,” and a call for an immediate ceasefire by Sciences Po. Following the events on the Saint-Guillaume campus, demands included the end of the violent repression of pro-Palestinian voices, and the termination of disciplinary proceedings against protestors. At the beginning of May, 4 students on the Reims campus went on hunger strike following in the footsteps of 7 students on the Paris campus. The hunger strikers here finally gave up after 7 days of not eating, as their actions were ignored by the administration, according to a communiqué posted on Instagram.

Come the final exam season, the demonstration continued. The first exam was planned for May 6, at 9am, but students found the campus blockaded again. The police were present but did not intervene. The exam was cancelled and delayed by a week.

Exams planned for the next day were moved to the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, another university in the city, and it took place under heavy police presence. Around three dozen officers in riot gear were present. In spite of this, protests ensued, and the demonstrators were moved forcefully by the police to clear the entrance of the campus. Tensions were extremely high. The exam finally started 30 minutes late, but at that point many students still had not reached the exam rooms as the police checked individual IDs. Some of those who sat the exam fainted or threw up. Many were crying. An optional resit of this exam was organised for all at the beginning of September.

Following the complete catastrophe that took place at URCA, the remaining exams were held at the Sciences Po campus, but students were permitted to enter from rue Eugène Wiet which was controlled by the police. The main entrance remained blockaded throughout the week.

As the academic year wrapped up, Sciences Po launched disciplinary actions against students involved in the mobilisations. As of August, at least 25 students from Paris, Menton, and Reims were summoned to appear in disciplinary hearings according to “Comité Palestine – Sciences Po Paris”. In the meantime, Mr. Bassères, Ms. Jeanne Lazarus, dean of the Undergraduate College, and Crystal Cordell Paris, director of the Reims Campus, emphasised dialogue in an interview given to student media.

Pro-Palestinian groups at Sciences Po vowed to continue fighting, but so far, no major action has been taken. In Reims, students organised a general assembly to discuss plans. Around 30-40 people showed up. There was a consensus on a need to keep the debate alive and to organise actions to preserve the saliency of the issue, although the assembly voted against mobilising on October 7^th, the anniversary of the start of the conflict. A “minute of noise for Palestine” was organised, however, on October 3. Students also plan to request a meeting with the administration to discuss “vindications.” The leftist student union, AER organised its own assembly. You can read more about that here.

As you can see, we had a busy last year. The events prompted conflict as well as valuable debate about SGBV and the Middle Eastern conflict. As to what we can expect this year? Well, this remains to be seen, but many of the demands of protesters have not been met and are still discussed on campus.