At Sciences Po, management wants to restore confidence and reassure donors after the withdrawal of Mathias Vicherat

2023-12-18 20:24:12
In front of Sciences Po, in Paris, on December 7. DIMITAR DILKOFF / AFP

The “indentation” of Mathias Vicherat from his duties as director was recorded, as was the date of his future return to office, January 29, 2024, which could however be postponed. At the end of a marathon of four exceptional meetings between December 12 and 18, the governing bodies of Sciences Po validated “the most consensual solution”according to the expression used by the administration during the debates.

Mathias Vicherat and his ex-partner Anissa Bonnefont, who mutually accused each other of domestic violence, were taken into police custody on December 3 before being released the next day. A preliminary investigation was ordered by the Paris prosecutor’s office but no complaint was filed by either side.

At the end of this round of internal meetings – an exercise described as “group therapy” by one of the members of the board of directors of the National Foundation of Political Sciences (FNSP) -, the concern has not subsided, as the conditions for resuming the post on a date which also corresponds to the students return to school after the Christmas break.

“There were clearly two points of view that had a lot of difficulty agreeing”testifies Nathan Arsac, elected student close to the Student Union union, Monday December 18, after the meeting of the training and student life council, which he perceived as “extremely tense”. “The call for resignation is still supported by some of the students facing the school administration for whom the question was not whether Mathias Vicherat would return but when he would return. »

A maximum withdrawal of three months

The death, Sunday, December 17, of the economist Philippe Martin, dean of the Sciences Po school of public affairs and member of the FNSP office, dealt an additional blow to the establishment, which preferred to postpone communication official on the terms of the director’s return, initially scheduled for Monday, December 18.

According to information collected by The worldand explained by the president of the FNSP, Laurence Bertrand-Dorléac, in an internal message broadcast on December 15, the system consists of entrusting Mr. Vicherat’s direct collaborators with all of his skills, until January 29.

Before this date, a commission bringing together the main representatives of the different councils will be responsible for studying the precise modalities allowing the director “either to resume his duties at the end of his withdrawal or to extend this withdrawal for a total duration not exceeding three months”, reports a press release from the Nova student union. During this period, the director will not receive remuneration, placing himself in the situation of unpaid leave.

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