Administration and students reach agreement over absences to pause blockades.

Campus Entrance Blocked on Oct. 13 – *Ogan Göncü*/The Sundial Press

This Tuesday morning (October 13th), the Sciences Po Reims campus was blockaded by students for the third time in six days. As on October 8th and 9th, Sciences Po students arrived at Place Museux at approximately 6:.15 a.m. and assembled barricades in front of the campus entrance in solidarity with the national lycée movement. The transition to online classes was announced by campus director Pierre Catalan at 7:10 a.m. in an email addressed to students and academic staff. In the same message, Mr. Catalan claimed that students who did not join the blockade were subjected to “psychological pressure” and personal attacks in group chats and social media comment sections. In response to our questions, Mr. Catalan did not confirm nor deny that any specific incident had been identified, and stated that any reports would be processed by the Student Life department in Paris.

Shortly after midday, the protesters who had gathered at the Reims campus’ main entrance reached an agreement with the administration, the main consequence of which is a pause in the blockade strategy pursued by local student unions, which was initially supposed to last for the remainder of the week and the days on which midterm examinations are scheduled to take place. The decision comes after a period of negotiations between the unions and Pierre Catalan, with the final terms of the agreement – which, as The Sundial Press has learned, was run through other campus directors and College Dean Jeanne Lazarus – being sent to the wider campus community at 12:43 p.m. Some key elements have been extracted for clarity:

“Absences specifically noted from October 6 to October 16 will not be taken into account. That means the absences during these 9 days will not count among the 2 justified absences per class in the semester (for 24 hours classes). […]
Classes can resume in-person as early as this afternoon [13 October], if the teacher wishes […]
None of the students involved and identified during the blockades of the 9th, the 10th and the 13th of October will meet with disciplinary consequences.”

Furthermore, Sciences Po President Luis Vassy introduced the possibility of a rescheduling of midterm examinations, amidst a call for a nationwide blockade of essential services issued by French labour unions and expected for Saturday 17 October. This is in response to concerns raised by students over potential difficulties reaching the different Sciences Po campuses – both in Paris and across France – on the day of the exam. For context, The Sundial Press has learned of an attempted blockade earlier this afternoon in front of the office building in which the Rectorat de l’Académie de Reims is located, next to Parc Saint-Rémi – in the French public education system, the Académie is the group of civil servants who oversee the normal functioning of primary and secondary schools in the Reims area. It is unclear whether any further attempts to blockade this building will happen over the coming days, as the protesters carrying out actions outside Place Museux are not necessarily associated with those promoting the blockade of the main campus entrance.

However, both Vassy and Catalan have specified that any re-scheduling must be requested by the student and will be subject to the approval of the student’s academic advisor. While there is no official deadline for the processing of such requests, Pierre Catalan has confirmed that any postponed midterm examinations will be held on the 21st and/or 28th of November, with no guarantee that the copies will be graded before the final examinations period in December.

These updates come amidst added pressure from Sciences Po faculty members, who organised an assembly on the Paris campus yesterday, and voted in favour of joining the nationwide strike announced for today by French labour unions, in the lead-up to Saturday’s main mobilisation. Today’s action is linked to protests over the working conditions of adult individuals, a movement separate from that organised by lycée students. Anyone affected by this strike may contact their instructors directly for further information about their courses.