Classrooms should reopen from Saturday. An agreement was reached on Tuesday between students, mobilized for months against the management of sexist and sexual violence within the Bordeaux-Montaigne University, and the management of the establishment, allowing the lifting of a blockade of the premises which has lasted since one week.
“Hiring a psychologist”, “independence of the unit” for reporting facts, “consultation of students for the constitution of this unit”… Megaphone in hand, a student listed the main measures adopted during a gathering on the Pessac campus, south of Bordeaux. Management must communicate on its side in the evening.
“Beginning of Victory”
The university has been shaken for months by a case concerning a philosophy teacher who accuses a colleague of having raped her, which he disputes. A judicial investigation is underway.
This teacher was also accused by around ten former students of sexual assault and inappropriate behavior. Faced with the mobilization of students and the media coverage of the affair, the management of which was criticized, the president of the university Lionel Larré denounced a “media campaign fueled by false information”.
“The blockade is maintained until Friday April 19 to allow the premises to be evacuated in complete peace,” we can read on the document sealing the agreement. All classes and exams had been suspended for a week. “It’s the beginning of a victory, won thanks to the balance of power that we imposed,” said Gexane, in the second year of her English degree.
“Critical methods” according to a teacher
“Some people think about the classes they are missing and have no empathy towards the victims,” adds Louis Corbière, a master’s student in Performing Arts, who says they are waiting “to see what the reporting unit will really give in the long run. term “.
Equally numerous, dozens of students and professors gathered at the same time, in the same place, to express their “fed up” with the blockage. “We refuse to be caught up in emotional blackmail on the issue of sexist and sexual violence (…) We refuse to see a semester once again scuttled by the actions of a minority of people,” declared Mathilde Bertrand, teacher- researcher in the English Studies department, denouncing “questionable methods”.