Close-Up: French Riots

As students in Cambridge prepared for midterms, finished theses, and confirmed spring break plans, 16 Harvard students studying abroad in France found themselves in the middle of a riot-torn nation at the center of international media attention.

Hundreds of thousands of French students have been occupying university campuses, on strike from classes, in protest of a new labor law, known as the Contrat Première Embauche.

The law will allow employers to fire workers under 26 within a two-year trial period without advance notice. People opposed to the law fear it will worsen the already bleak job market for the younger generation.

Harvard students studying abroad in France expressed mixed reactions about how the riots were affecting them.

“At first I was slightly annoyed,” said Kate Wang ’07, who is studying at the Sorbonne. But as the strike continued, Wang said she began to view the situation as an “educational experience” giving her a deeper understanding of French culture.

“This is proving to be a quite historic event and it has definitely lead to interesting and eye-opening conversations with French citizens,” said Kieran H. Shanahan ’07, who is studying at University of Paris VII through a Columbia University program. Shanahan added, however, that she is disappointed that her coursework was abridged because of the protests.

Wang said while some of her peers’ classes have been cancelled for five weeks, she was attending class until a little over a week ago, when “Sorbonne mobilized and the students blocked” the entrances.

Shanahan began losing class time as early as March 2, and now she has no choice but to take a special ad-hoc course organized by Columbia with other American students.

“The study abroad program directors in France are offering support to our students, arranging ways for them to continue their studies during the strikes, and advising them to exercise caution and avoid student demonstrations,” wrote Harvard College Office of International Programs (OIP) Assistant Director Leslie M. Hill in an e-mail.

Hill assured that the students will all be able to receive credit for their coursework. “When classes are interrupted abroad, we work with each student to make sure that they are able to earn credit,” she wrote.

Though the OIP expressed concern for the students’ safety, neither Wang or Shanahan said they felt they were in danger.

“I haven’t felt unsafe,” Wang said, explaining she is able to avoid the protests because their time and location are known beforehand.

Shanahan said she also felt relatively safe, but added “I will say walking by the Sorbonne [Monday] was a slightly unnerving experience.”

“The makeshift barriers have been replaced by a very permanent-looking metal barrier which blocks you from entering the cafes leading up to the main building,” Shanahan said.

“Everytime I go, it seems like there are more police. [There are] hundreds and hundreds,” Wang said of the Sorbonne.