En grève

"During the strike, there is no cleaning.

Do no put anything in the trash and leave this space clean.

Thank you for your understanding."

I have seen this sign every day for the past month, the amount of time the students of Université Rennes 2 have been on strike. Posted on the doors in the bathroom, in the hallway of the 4th floor of bâtiment E, in the CIREFE caféteria...we are reminded that times are hard when the students are on grève.

And it's true, times are hard. The university students here in Rennes treat their grève with upmost severity. Although revolt is part of French tradition, there must be something in the Rennais' blood that kicks it up to an obsessive level. One of the causes they are protesting is the proposed cut of jobs, due to the struggling educational budget, which would result in less professors and larger class sizes. Certainly, this is a grave issue...but I get the impression that the grève is producing less result and more nuisance.

As an international student at the CIREFE, I still have the ability to attend class. (And for what I'm paying, I would be quite upset if that weren't the case...) Yet, students at the regular university haven't attended class for several weeks. Instead, they come to the campus to block entrances to each building - except the restaurant, of course - denying students, professors, and faculty alike from entering. Every morning, I must identify myself as an American who only wishes to improve her French by being able to walk inside the building. When the students are not sitting and policing those who wish to trespass, they are busy building barricades. Like what their ancestors did during the days of the Revolution, they pile dozens of chairs and tables to blockade the doors, making it impossible to get through.

At least once or twice a week, the students also gather for an assemblée générale to discuss their progress with the grève and decide if they wish to continue. Crowding on the lawn right outside bâtiment E, the students yell through megaphones while others cheer or boo with great enthusiasm. It's almost like a sport, the hundreds of students screaming and shouting outside catches you off-guard when you're in class talking about the imperfect and subjunctive in hypothetical statements.


I don't know when this student strike will end. I wouldn't be surprised if it lasted for the rest of the semester. And the most shocking thing I've learned from this experience is that these students will still get their diplomas in the end...it's too expensive for the university not to allow them to graduate, despite their lack of participation in the classroom.

A reason to love St. Olaf.