Split of the Catholic University of Leuven

This was reflected in the Catholic University of Leuven, founded in 1835, which for most of its existence taught classes in French only, despite being situated in Dutch-speaking Flanders.

During the nineteenth century, the Flemish Movement had emerged in Flanders to demand an enhanced status for the Dutch language.

Their objective increasingly switched from bilingualism to regional unilingualism, a principle recognised by the Gilson laws of 1962.

This made the French and Dutch sections in Leuven effectively autonomous but Flamingants demanded that the university be formally split.

The Leuven issue was raised on 5 November 1967 when about 30,000 Flemish activists marched in Antwerp to demand that the Catholic University become monolingual.

Following the success of the Antwerp demonstration, Flemish students marched in Leuven to advocate similar demands.

The government of Paul Vanden Boeynants and the Catholic Church opposed the split and attempted to find a compromise, but this became impossible once the attitudes of both sides hardened.

Negotiations between the two factions in January and February 1968 collapsed when the Bishop of Bruges, Emiel Jozef De Smedt, gave a public speech advocating a split.

The Leuven crisis also led to the rapid rise of regionalist political parties, such as the Volksunie in Flanders and the Front Démocratique des Francophones in Brussels.