STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE!

I went to the Sorbonne today to take my placement test. (I knew already that I was a beginner. The humiliation was not necessary.)
You know that you are really at the Sorbonne when there's a strike. The French mostly invented the concept, and it has a long and constant tradition, especially in Paris, and especially at the Sorbonne.
This one went for at least a mile along the rue St Michel, from the Boulevard de Port Royale to the rue des Ecoles (where the Sorbonne is). The gendarme was present with some serious riot gear in tow (following an incident last week in Strasbourg that turned violent). It was a national strike, protesting budget and job cuts in French universities. The global economic crisis has hit French education from kindergarten to postdoctoral studies, cutting teacher's salaries, jobs, and research funding. Sarkozy's approval rating is down 5% in the last two days and is now at 39%. He ran for office on a platform of economic reform, and he's having a hard time doing anything about it.
There's also the matter of education reform. Professors are governed half by the head of their institutions and half by a council on higher education. New laws, implemented in January, have put the majority of decision-making power in the hands of university presidents, giving them close to monarchial power over their various institutions. Lecturers feel that this gives an unfair advantage to the administration and allows personal feelings on the part of university heads to hold sway. The resulting strike is "unlimited," meaning that it has no designated end date. Some chapters, like the Paris 13th, have been on strike for the past three weeks. Marseilles was not far behind, and now more and more people are joining the strike. Grades from last semester are not being recorded, and about 45% of classes are not being held.
It's just like 1968.