Council suspends funding to Paris university amid pro-Palestinian protests

The Paris regional council sparked controversy on Tuesday by temporarily suspending funding for Sciences Po, one of the country's most prestigious universities, after it was rocked by tense pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

"I have decided to suspend all regional funding for Sciences Po until calm and security have been restored at the school," Valérie Pécresse, the right-wing head of the greater Paris Ile-de-France region, said on social media on Monday.

She took aim at "a minority of radicalised people calling for anti-Semitic hatred" and accused hard-left politicians of seeking to exploit the tensions.

They should not "dictate their law to the entire educational community," she said.

The regional council's support for the Paris Institute of Political Studies – known as Sciences Po – includes €1 million "planned for 2024 as part of a state contract (CPER)", Pécresse's entourage told French news agency AFP.

Other suspended funds were linked to hosting overseas mentors, planned "for spring and the start of the school year" later in 2024 the source said.

Maintain dialogue

On Tuesday, the university's acting administrator, Jean Basseres, said he regretted the decision.

"The Ile-de-France region is an essential partner of Sciences Po, and I wish to maintain dialogue on the position expressed by Mrs Pecresse", he told French daily Le Monde in an interview published Tuesday.

In an echo of tense demonstrations rocking many top US universities, students at Sciences Po have staged a number of protests, with some students furious over the Israel-Hamas war and ensuing humanitarian crisis in the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza.

Police cleared a rally last Thursday but protesters maintained their sit-in on Friday. Clashes were reported after the arrival of about 50 pro-Israeli demonstrators.

However, with exams scheduled to start soon, the university said the pro-Palestinian students had agreed to call off their action in return for an "internal debate" about the university's ties to Israel.

University authorities also agreed to drop all disciplinary proceedings against demonstrators, said a note sent to students and faculty by Jean Basseres.

No plans to cut ties with Israel

However both Basseres and Higher Education Minister Sylvie Retailleau said there were no plans to suspend Sciences Po's collaboration with universities in Israel.

Retailleau also said on Tuesday the French government had no plans to suspend funding for Sciences Po.

Speaking to broadcaster France 2, she estimated the state's funding for the university at €75 million euros. She said there had been "no anti-Semitic remarks" and no violence had been committed during the demonstrations.

Critics on the left have denounced Pécresse's announcement.

"It's shameful and an absolute scandal," said Mathilde Panot, the head of hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) deputies in parliament, adding the behaviour of the students was a "credit to the world and a credit to our country".

France is home to the world's largest Jewish population after Israel and the United States, as well as Europe's biggest Muslim community.

The war in Gaza began with an attack by Palestinian militants Hamas on Israel on 7 October that resulted in the deaths of around 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

In retaliation, Israel launched a military offensive that has killed at least 34,305 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

(with AFP)