[Studyabroadadvise] SBC Junior Year in France

[Margaret Scouten]

Dear colleagues,

I asked Mme Marie Grée, Resident Director in Paris, to explain (in 
English) the situation concerning
the strikes and rioting in Paris. During the past two weeks,government 
advisory warnings, our own JYF warnings and announcements have been sent 
regularly (in French) to all JYF participants via email. We have also 
posted them in the SBC JYF location. We are making every effort to offer 
courses and tutoring in our program so that JYF participants will 
continue to receive grades and a transcript at the end of May.
If you have any questions and/or concerns, please do not hesitate to 
call (4343) 381-6109 or email at <jyf at sbc.edu>

Sincerely,

Margaret Scouten
Director

March 22, 2006

Dear families and study abroad advisors,

A few weeks ago, French students started to demonstrate against a new 
French Labor law called CPE (contrat première embauche) which, in their 
eyes, only emphasizes the difficulty of their situation (25% of the 
people under 25 years old are unemployed in France).

As you know, mass demonstrations are a regular feature of the French 
political landscape and a common sight in Paris. Many Americans are 
disconcerted before the huge crowds chanting (often happily) 
anti-government slogans, but the French accept them for the political 
tool (and traffic nuisance) that they are.

So far this winter the protests have been peaceful for the most part, 
with some headline-grabbing exceptions: late at night, in front of the 
Sorbonne, when the police evacuated the students from areas they had no 
right to be in; and Saturday, March 18, when "professional thugs" 
(hooligans, gangs from the suburbs, political extremists) infiltrated 
the crowd. Against them, the police used tear gas and water cannons.

These acts of violence were not perpetrated by students and in general 
French parents know it: in fact, many of them were marching with their 
children on Saturday. So while there is reason to stay informed and 
concern is certainly justified, most of our students rightly view this 
social protest as a rare opportunity to experience democracy à la 
française in action. The entire city is alive with passionate political 
argument, a learning experience for us all; and with a little common 
sense for personal safety when near big urban crowds, no one should get 
hurt.

We are monitoring the situation closely, of course, for academic as well 
as safety concerns, and we will keep you informed of any increase in the 
intensity of the confrontations. If you have any particular concerns, 
please don't hesitate to send an e-mail or call.

Sincerely,

Marie Grée
Resident Director in Paris





-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.sbc.edu/pipermail/studyabroadadvise/attachments/20060321/4c7835cb/attachment.html