The Academic Board calls to defeat Marine Le Pen

Declaration adopted by the Academic Board of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques on April 19, 2022, by 20 votes in favour, one against and two abstentions.

Since 1872 and especially since the creation of the Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques (FNSP) in 1945, our university has always promoted values of freedom, social and international openness and humanism, and has made academic freedom an essential framework.

Currently, threats and intimidation by the far right are widespread, as with the intimidation suffered by students in Nancy on Wednesday 13 April and the attack on students peacefully demonstrating in front of 27 rue Saint-Guillaume on Thursday 14 April by individuals claiming to be from Génération Zemmour, the Cocarde étudiante and the national branch of the UNI union.

The approach of the second round of the French presidential election sees its share of alternative truths, threats, and violence fueled by an extreme right that has retained its ideological matrix: discrimination against foreigners under the guise of national preference; rejection of the rule of law by challenging the preamble to the 1946 Constitution and the role of the Constitutional Council; threats to social achievements as essential as the abolition of the death penalty.

Because we are an international university open to the world, with 50% international students;

Because we welcome students and researchers who are refugees from Afghanistan, Ukraine and other countries that are suffering from wars and the suppression of fundamental freedoms;

Because we refuse to discriminate against foreigners under the guise of national preference;

Because we are attached to the defense of the rule of law protected by the preamble of the 1946 Constitution and the role of the Constitutional Council.

Because we have been involved for several decades in the development of Europe's academic ambition (and recently through the CIVICA network);

Because the Rassemblement National is part of a long tradition of violence in universities and jeopardizing the principle of academic freedoms;

Because throughout history and in contemporary examples (Hungary, Poland, Brazil, etc.), the far right in power has always had the goal of bringing universities under control, and in particular the humanities and social sciences;

Because we are committed, in our research and educative work, to the fight against discrimination and inequality and in favour of the ecological transition;

Because we participate in the promotion of exchange and tolerance, as illustrated by the interfaith Emouna project which celebrates its fifth year of existence;

Because we are committed to the values of the Republic, which were the foundation of Sciences Po since its creation by Emile Boutmy at the beginning of the Third Republic;

Because the ideas of the Rassemblement National are in clear contradiction with a democratic society that relies on science;

The Academic Board calls more than ever on voters to defend, through their vote, all the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and by law, in particular the freedom of education and research which is essential for the future of our society. This demand implies the full respect of the procedures that have governed the revision of the Constitution since 1958.

Therefore, the Academic Board resolutely calls to defeat Marine Le Pen on 24 April.