The university, at the heart of a controversy since the interruption of hooded activists during a course in April, did not wish to comment on a decision which it says “not having been officially informed”.
Published the 07/05/2025 19:59 Updated the 07/05/2025 20:24 Reading time: 3min
This is a statement that made reacting react left. Laurent Wauquiez, candidate for the presidency of the Les Républicains party, announced on Wednesday May 7 the suspension of subsidies from the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region at Lyon 2 University, which he accuses of “Islamo-leftist drift”. “We decided with the President of the Region to suppress all aid at this university”said the former boss of the region, who has become a special advisor to his successor, Fabrice Pannekoucke, on CNews and Europe 1.
Laurent Wauquiez explained to AFP that he asks the Ministry of Higher Education to lead a “Independent inspection mission” to determine “The extent of the Islamo-leftist drift of this university”. Pending the results of this mission, “We suspend all cooperation” With Lyon 2, justified the president of the region. The elected official claims that breakfast meals from Ramadan fasting or “prayers” took place in the establishment.
According to the region, this financial moratorium is up to “almost 19 million euros” And mainly concerns real estate projects payments. Contacted by AFP, the university did not wish to comment on a decision which it says does not “Not having been officially informed”.
“Trumpism has just crossed the Atlantic”reacted Jean-Luc Mélenchon, in reference to the American administration policy concerning the major universities of the country. There “Overbidding” from Laurent Wauquiez against the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, whom he will face during a LR congress in mid-May, “Vire the political police and obscurantism against universities”he added on social networks. The socialist opposition to the region also denounced a decision “Brutal, without nuance” et “anti -republican”. The environmental member Marie-Charlotte Garin judged on X that Laurent Wauquiez “Invented the offense of academic opinion”.
The University of Lyon 2 has been at the heart of a controversy since the emergence, on April 1, of a group of people with a concealed face during a course in Fabrice Balanche, specialist in Iraq and Syria. He had been strongly taken to task by activists the taxant of “racist” et “Zionist”. The prosecution, seized by the University, has opened an investigation to hinder the exercise of the teacher’s function.
Since then, the academic has denounced “Islamo-leftism” In force according to him in Lyon 2 and criticized for his management a lack of support. University president Isabelle von Bueltzingsloewen, said the interruption of her course was “intolerable” But denounced the “Lyrics in conspiracy, deleterious for the university” of the teacher. She then was the subject of death threats, which prompted the prosecution to open a second investigation.
