As a Protestant Christian Socialist, Gide was involved with progressive politics in France, endorsing the "université populaire" philosophy after the Dreyfus Affair. He promoted the establishment of a School for Advanced Social Studies ("École supérieure de sciences sociales") (1899). Additionally, he served among the early faculty of the "École supérieure de journalisme de Paris". Together with the School for Social Studies, it was established in 1899 as one of three "grandes écoles" developing from the "Collège libre de science sociales" initiated in 1895.