Some aspects of the crisis in the French Universities

Abstract

French student demonstrations, particularly those occurring in Paris, have attracted considerable attention abroad, since they seem to conflict so sharply with the stability of the present regime and the apparent " depoliticisation " of French opinion. It may therefore be useful to give a short explanation of the deeper causes of the crisis in the French universities. The task is less easy than foreign observers are usually inclined to think. True, one has only to quote statistics to bring out certain major facts but these facts do not in themselves provide an interpretation. There is no doubt that French students are dissatisfied with the conditions in which they must pursue their studies, especially in certain overcrowded universities, of which Paris is the extreme example. But the student organisations which initiate protests and evolve plans for reform have the characteristics peculiar to student organisations: their affairs are directed by a minority of active members and, in most cases, their officers are elected by a minority of the student body. It would be rash to claim, without further inquiry, that they are representative in character. The Union nationale des etudiants francais is run by people of left-wing opinions. During previous years it campaigned vigorously against the Algerian War; now it is campaigning on behalf of ideas not all of which are of a political nature (e.g., the free distribution of cyclostyled copies of lecture notes) but some of which (e.g., the demand for student participation in university administration) often appear no less shocking to members of staff with leftwing views than to those of reputedly conservative convictions.