A group of Sciences Po students requested on November 12, 2024 the provision of an amphitheater with a view to organizing a conference on the theme of the embargo on arms deliveries to Israel, during which was to speak Ms. Rima Hassan on Friday November 22, 2024. On November 18, the director of Sciences Po refused to make a room available for this conference due to the risk of disturbances to public order within the establishment. Following an order from the Paris administrative court ordering Sciences Po to make a room available, Sciences Po contacted the Council of State.
The judge of the Council of State recalls that freedom of expression and assembly, guaranteed to students within the confines of a higher education establishment, cannot allow demonstrations which would go beyond the mission of the establishment, which would prevent the carrying out of teaching and research activities, disrupt the normal functioning of the establishment or risk harming public order. And it is up to the person in charge of the establishment to ensure respect for freedoms in the establishment, to ensure its independence from any political or ideological influence and to maintain order in its premises. .
The judge of the Council of State notes that the situation at Sciences Po, for several months, has been marked by serious disorders within or around it, linked to the context of the conflict in the Middle East and the tensions that it arouses in France. In particular, they resulted in intrusions, occupations and blockages in the establishment and in excesses during events linked to the activities of Sciences Po, with in certain cases, acts of violence, intimidation at the towards other students or staff of the establishment and damage. Very recently, access to Sciences Po was blocked on October 9, 2024 and its main amphitheater was occupied on November 14.
Given the current situation of the establishment, and while Ms. Rima Hassan had on several occasions supported the occupations and blockades of Sciences Po, its director did not commit a serious and manifestly illegal attack on the freedom of expression and freedom of assembly of students by refusing to provide a room for the planned conference.
For these reasons, the judge of the Council of State today annuls the order of the administrative court of Paris.
Read the decision
The summary liberty order (article L. 521-2 of the administrative justice code)
The summary liberty order is a procedure which allows urgent referral to the administrative judge, when it is considered that the administration is infringing on a fundamental freedom (freedom of expression, right to respect for private and family life, etc.) . The summary judge may suspend a decision of the administration or order it to take specific measures. For this, it must be established, on the one hand, that there is an urgency to rule, on the other hand, that the administration – by its actions or its inaction – has caused a serious and manifestly illegal attack on a freedom fundamental. The summary judge issues his decisions – called “orders” – in principle within 48 hours.
