Students blocked access to Sciences Po Paris and the school’s other campuses in the provinces on Monday morning, January 29, to protest the reinstatement of headmaster Mathias Vicherat, who was questioned by police in December as part of a domestic violence investigation, and to demand his resignation.
All these blockages were removed during the day, the establishment’s management specified in the early evening. She assured that before « two locations of Sciences Po Paris (were) blocked by approximately fifty students out of a total of 9,000 students »and that the campuses of “Rheims, (of) Nancy, (of) Poitiers (and) Refuge (were) also blocked ». This was stated by the school management “lesson (have) always the same (summer) insured remotely ».
In a message sent to students, staff and teachers at midday on Monday, a copy of which was obtained by Agence France-Presse (AFP), Mr Vicherat said he had measured “with the seriousness that trust may have been undermined, stretched”. “I also know that it cannot be mandated, but that it is built over time and in each moment through an ongoing concern for efficiency, collective and humility.”, he continued. Invitation “all actors and actresses at Sciences Po who wish” to meet him, he added“Register decisively and sustainably with everyone in this process of listening and dialogue”.
Mr Vicherat and his ex-partner Anissa Bonnefont, who accused each other of domestic violence, were taken into police custody on 3 December 2023 before being released the following day. A preliminary investigation was ordered by the Paris prosecutor’s office. The director proposed to step down on December 11, 2023, before taking up his post on Monday.
“Restore the broken atmosphere of trust”
In front of the entrance to the main building of Sciences Po Paris, at 27 rue Saint-Guillaume, in the 7thE neighborhood, trash cans, barriers, bicycles and pallets were stacked by about thirty students present, AFP noted. Posters were read on the walls of the building “Vicherat Resignation” were glued. The banner read: “Protected teachers, abandoned victims”or “Sciences Po, Paradise of Impunity”.
Students returned to school on Monday after a period of exams and holidays. “We’re here to protest the end of the principal’s holiday-only severance period”lamented Inês Fontenelle of the Students’ Union, adding: “We hope that Mathias Vicherat will accept his responsibility and step down to restore the atmosphere of trust among students that has been broken. »
A little further away, a master’s student in sociology, who did not wish to give her identity, believes this “This return is an affront to victims of sexist and sexual violence, Sciences Po staff and its student community”. Shortly after taking the helm of Science Po, at the end of 2021, its director decided as “absolute priority” fight against this violence.
An extraordinary board of the institute is planned for noon on Tuesday, as well as an extraordinary board of trustees on Wednesday afternoon, according to consistent sources.