university presidents are calling the Head of State Mr. President,
If we allow ourselves to speak to you now is that the situation in universities is serious.
Regardless of how you present things, both officially and in the media, confusion reigns: you are told both that nothing happens to considerable and that everything is in order, and at the same time as the year may be lost to unrest and disorder intolerable. This is a table for less adversarial.
The reality is certainly mixed. But in some institutions and in some fields, it is not certain that examinations can be held in proper conditions or even just stand. And the solution of the gap at the beginning of summer no more tipping in September does not constitute any solution to this problem. There is real risk of non-validation of the semester, so this year, which is also disastrous for students unmanageable for our government - except to let the universities concerned may invent as part of their autonomy, ways of solving the problem of independent checks strictly bureaucratic guardianship: in exceptional circumstances, extraordinary measures.
What is the mood of the players of the university community? It can be presented in two ways. One of them, you've probably seen the beginning of the crisis, the opposition and anger almost unanimously stakeholders (learned societies, professional decision-making bodies of higher education, structures academic unions of all stripes ...) vis-à-vis the two major projects that your departments have opened: the reform of the statutes of academics and the whole system of training and recruitment of teachers and schools high schools and colleges. Such a union had never been seen.
The second aspect is more lasting and bearing tension. As the first point of treatment remains unclear, an impression remains widespread and tenacious willingness to systematically further ministerial review of the academic community. To speak clearly, many have lost confidence.
Yet all the reasons have been widely, clearly and publicly explained that lead to see in action a series of reforms with little positive impact, even aggravating, conducted in haste and without proper consultation with an academic community accustomed to collegiality in decision-making and encouraged for years in the idea and practice it must invest in government higher education and research.
wisdom is obviously to decide on a moratorium in order to foster a real reflection, and collective, on this issue which spills out into academia, and touches, precisely because we are a democracy, all children of all families in the country.
Now what do we see? There is no moratorium or suspension - but a series of measures, indications, commissions, projects, announcements, leading to approve arrangements confusing, difficult to read and generally harmful. Hence a general feeling of bitterness, anger, resentment, even despair, which leads to a mixture of dismay and radicalization of the risk behaviors increasingly uncontrollable. It is a miracle that we have so far limited its spread.
What will happen when we shall be led to consider that as a result of the obstinacy of a ministerial or overly fussy approach to the guardianship authority, thousands of students could lose their year? The current approach generates, in the midst of culture, research and teaching, highly contested and derided these days, a deep malaise, durable, and long-term effects, very unlikely given the attractiveness our education and our research.
Therefore, quick gestures calming strong, radical and clear, that only you, Mr. President, can perform brilliantly and wisely. Is the confidence expressed in this way our deep respect.
Binczak By Pascal, president of the University Vincennes-Saint-Denis (Paris VIII), Lise
Dumasy, president of the University Stendhal (Grenoble III), Anne
Fraïsse, president of the University Paul Valery (Montpellier III), Bernadette
Madeuf, president of the University Paris-Ouest (Paris X),
George Molina, president of the University of Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV)
and Philippe Rollet, president of the University of Lille-I, Science and technologies.président University Vincennes-Saint-Denis (Paris VIII), Lise
Dumasy, president of the University Stendhal (Grenoble III)
Fraïsse Anne, president of the University Paul Valery (Montpellier III), Bernadette
Madeuf, president of the University Paris-Ouest (Paris X),
George Molina, president of the University of Paris-Sorbonne (Paris -IV)
Le Monde, May 13, 2009
