greve update

to give you all an idea of my week so far:

monday
10 am - assemble generale of the paris iv art history department; dissemination of information regarding strike and professor testimonials
*courses suspended in the afternoon*
2 pm - assemble generale (students and faculty - filled three of the amphitheaters of the sorbonne). never seen anything like it. students screaming and shouting and voting. they decided to join the professors in the strike.
3:45 - linguistics course at paris III, first hour of which was the all-too-familiar greve rant...last half hour of which was actual class

tuesday
10:30 am - paris III course; professor "en greve" but still teaching course as usual. HOWEVER to remind us all that he was striking he wore an afro-type wig for the first fifteen minutes of class. really quite a character.
3:00 art section - another 10 minute greve rant...no class. during the talk, we could hear the manifestation of students/professors/etc out in the streets! rambunctious as usual!
5:00 linguistics section cancelled

this is the first time that paris iv PROFESSORS have ever gone on strike, lucky us! sounds like we'll hear thursday about whether anything is resolved.

i've slowly been learning more and more what this is all about. the biggest issue seems to be proposed reforms that would change the role of "enseignant-chercheurs" or "teacher-researchers." (and also cut jobs...) people see the reforms as "anglicizing" the current system by putting more of an emphasis on research..professors who dont publish enough would be forced to teach more hours a week. the main gripe i've heard over and over is that this makes teaching look like a punishment rather than part of the job itself.

all in all this is at times frustrating and fascinating. definitely a very french experience!