The director of Sciences Po Paris, Mathias Vicherat, interviewed in December by the police in an investigation into domestic violence, announced his resignation on Wednesday March 13.
“I learned that my ex-partner and I were referred to the criminal court (…) I decided, in order to preserve [the institution], to resign from my functions as director of the Institute of political studies of Paris and administrator of the National Foundation of Political Sciences”, he wrote in this message sent to the educational community of Sciences Po and confirmed to Agence France-Presse (AFP) by the management of the establishment.
In an email addressed to the entire Sciences Po educational community, Laurence Bertrand Doléac, president of the National Foundation for Political Sciences (FNSP), explains that, in agreement with the Minister of Higher Education and Research, a provisional administrator will be appointed in the coming days. He will be responsible for both the management functions of the Paris Institute of Political Studies and the FNSP.
Mr. Vicherat and his ex-partner Anissa Bonnefont, who mutually accused each other of domestic violence, were taken into police custody on December 3, 2023 before being released the next day. A preliminary investigation was ordered by the Paris prosecutor’s office. The director had proposed to step aside on December 11, 2023, before returning to his duties at the end of January. Several blockades and mobilizations had been organized by students, on the different campuses (Paris, Reims, Poitiers, etc.), to protest against his return.
The Student Union union welcomes this resignation, in a press release. However, he believes that it comes “too late” and denounces the “shameful support of the other senior managers of the school for the return and retention of Mathias Vicherat. From now on, it is time for Sciences Po to turn the page on these repeated crises which shame all of the school’s communities, by initiating a profound reform of its treatment of SGBV,” the press release concludes.
