SCIENTISTS PROTEST IN FRANCE: EUROPE: Researchers object to proposed restructuring of CNRS

THOUSANDS OF SCIENTISTS in 10 cities across France marched in protest on May 27 to voice their disapproval of a proposed reorganization of the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), the country’s prestigious research agency. The scientists were reacting to statements by Valerie Pecresse, the French minister for higher education and research, who told the newspaper Le Monde that the government of French President Nicolas Sarkozy was planning to split CNRS into six separate institutes. Pecresse could not be reached for comment by C&EN’s press time. Pecresse told Le Monde that existing CNRS departments, which are sprinkled across the country, will be reorganized into separate institutes for chemistry, physics, engineering science, mathematics, and ecology and biodiversity, as well as humanities and social science. The silo-like restructuring “has a savor of the 19th century,” says Bruno Chaudret, director of the CNRS Laboratory for Coordination Chemistry, in Toulouse. He says some reforms could impr...