In response to the controversy surrounding the symposium entitled "Palestine et Europe: poids du passé et dynamiques contemporaines" (Palestine and Europe: the weight of the past and contemporary dynamics) to be held at the Collège de France on November 13 and 14, 2025, co-organized by Prof. Henry Laurens, holder of the Chair in the History of the Arab World at the Collège de France, and the Centre arabe de recherches et d'études politiques de Paris (CAREP), the Collège de France wishes to reiterate its strict neutrality with regard to issues of a political or ideological nature. As a place of knowledge and its dissemination, it does not advocate, encourage or support any form of militancy. The only positions that the Collège de France allows itself to take publicly concern science, scientific research and higher education, which are directly relevant to its activity and raison d'être.
In keeping with the nature of our institution, each professor is free to organize his or her own lectures, courses, seminars and colloquia, while respecting academic freedom and the conditions for public speaking by researchers, as defined by law in the Code de l'éducation and by the opinions of the Collège de déontologie de l'enseignement supérieur et de la recherche (opinions of May 21, 2021, February 17, 2023 and March 29, 2024). Recognition of academic freedom is the very essence of our institution, which has proudly claimed it for almost five hundred years. This freedom cannot be unaware of the obligations imposed by its responsibility and adherence to the values on which the scientific community is founded: serenity of debate, plurality of analyses and perspectives, justification of sources and methods, rationality of arguments, and respect for scientific integrity.
In view of the controversy and risks surrounding this symposium, it was initially suggested to the Scientific Committee that the event should be held behind closed doors, but this did not prove possible. However, it is also the responsibility of the Chairman of the Collège de France to guarantee the safety of the Collège de France staff and its public, and to avoid any risk to public order.
Consequently, and in view of the foregoing, the Chairman of the Collège de France is obliged to cancel the event scheduled for November 13 and 14, in his capacity as head of the establishment responsible for the safety of people and property, and for the serenity of events held on the Collège de France premises.
Thomas Römer
Chairman of the Collège de France
