The discontent among teachers, students, and some high school students shows no signs of abating. This Tuesday, February 9, they united their efforts from Carlone to Saint Jean d’Angély and met before heading to Valrose. The final destination: Place Masséna at 2 p.m. The protesters rallied against the reforms of Valérie Pécresse, Minister of Higher Education and Research. These measures change the status of teaching-researchers, their training, and advocate the cessation of the policy of eliminating and precarizing positions. Isabelle, a teaching-researcher in a white lab coat, confides: “We are protesting against the dismantling of the CNRS and against the LRU [Pécresse Law]. It should be noted that this morning the strike was voted on at the Faculty of Science in Nice, in addition to the Faculty of Letters. It’s a real, tough movement!”
Some students are protesting to show their solidarity with their professors. “I am in solidarity and I feel concerned by these issues because I want to become a teaching-researcher myself. Nicolas Sarkozy is gradually destroying the public service and trying to divide us,” protests an angry student. Anthony is in his first year at the Faculty of Letters. He is outraged by these reforms, “They are depriving us of all the means we had, and they are literally putting us out on the street. We will end up with universities costing more than €5,000 per year. So, we are against this government.” Last Monday, Valérie Pécresse appointed a mediator who will have to rework the draft decree. The Minister of Higher Education will meet on Wednesday at 4 p.m. with various representatives of the university community, but according to the protesters, the strikes are not going to stop anytime soon.
