University Professors Case

In May 1968, university students engaged in widespread demonstrations, protesting the nature of higher education in France. In response, a series of changes were implemented to democratize the French higher-education system. The reforms included the breakup of large faculties into smaller units of study and research run by tenured professors. Under the new systems, tenured professors and groups of nontenured assistants taught university courses. Tenured professors directed and operated the universities, including preparing academic programs, coordinating teaching teams, and making decisions on promoting teachers and researchers. Each university had a governing council elected from a single electoral group of tenured professors, nontenured teachers and researchers, and library and museum personnel. Within the electoral body, tenured professors were a minority, outnumbered by nontenured teachers and researchers. The tenured professors (plaintiffs) challenged the new university-governance system, arguing that the governance structure failed to protect the tenured professors’ constitutional right to academic and educational independence. Furthermore, the professors contended that, as a minority in the single governing body of a university, the tenured professors lacked a means of protecting their educational freedom from the political interests of the majority.