End of the Year Issue
By Peyton Dashiell
December 31, 2023
On Dec. 4, news broke that Sciences Po Paris Director Mathias Vicherat had been placed into police custody the previous evening for violence conjugale (domestic violence). According to AFP, Vicherat’s partner came to police the evening of Dec. 3 to file a complaint against Vicherat after he allegedly pushed her to the ground during a public argument. Additionally, she stated that Vicherat had broken her wrist six weeks ago, but no charges were pursued. Vicherat arrived at the police station shortly after his partner, accusing her of slapping him. Both were released the afternoon of Dec. 4, and no complaints were ultimately filed.
Shortly after his release, Vicherat released a statement to students via email clarifying that no official complaints had been filed and expressing his desire to preserve the stability of his family, particularly for the sake of his young children. He affirmed his commitment to the “values of Sciences Po” and said that he will be meeting with student associations shortly to discuss the issue.
The allegations promoted a strong reaction spanning across campuses, with several student associations, including Solidaire Etudiant.e.s., Sciences Po Paris En Lutte, and the Sciences Po Menton Feminist Union calling for Vicherat’s resignation. A “day of mobilization” was called for Dec. 5, and an independent petition was publicized calling for Vicherat to step down. The petition highlighted Vicherat’s previous promises to make VSS “his priority,” the fact that as director he holds the ultimate authority over campus VSS cases and sanctions applied, and concluded that “the trust between the student community and its director has been broken.” By Dec. 8, it had garnered over 1,300 signatures. In Menton, the Feminist Union and Solidaire Etudiant.e.s released a joint statement asserting that “as a matter of principle, Sciences Po cannot have a director accused of domestic violence.”
This student condemnation of Vicherat was not solely confined to the digital sphere. On Dec. 5, Menton students gathered on the parvis to rally for Vicherat’s immediate resignation, hanging a large banner reading “Vicherat Demission.” Additionally, campus blockades occurred at the Paris, Reims, and Dijon campuses.
Student reactions to these demonstrations were generally supportive albeit cautious. Anoushka Naik, an exchange student at Sciences Po Menton, expressed that “If it is found that Vicherat did engage in abusive conduct, calling on him to resign is absolutely the correct step. However, we as students have absolutely no idea what truly happened, and speaking as though we do is not how to properly support survivors of abuse.”
Nearly a week after these efforts, the Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques announced via email that Vicherat would be temporarily withdrawing from his role as director. After consultations with the Sciences Po board of directors, this withdrawal was unanimously approved to end on January 29, 2024. It is unclear if any additional steps will be taken to address the allegations against Vicherat following this withdrawal period.
Vicherat was appointed Sciences Po director in November 2021 after the resignation of Frederic Mion in the wake of the Olivier Duhamel affair. Duhamel, a Sciences Po professor, former politician, and head of the Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques, was accused by his daughter-in-law of sexually abusing her brother throughout their childhood in her January 2021 book La Familia grande. Mion initially feigned shock at the accusations, but later admitted that he had originally learned of them in 2018. Mion was one of at least seven people associated with Sciences Po who had knowledge of the allegations for many years. Duhamel admitted to the abuse in an April 2021 interview with the police minor protection brigade, but no charges could be brought due to the statute of limitations.
In light of these events, as well as criticism of Sciences Po’s handling of sexual assault cases, Vicherat specifically outlined combatting VSS as one of his aims as director. In Feb. 2022, Sciences Po adopted an institutional action plan addressing VSS, which included mandatory awareness and training modules, a standardized reporting system, and a VSS guide distributed across all campuses. According to a 2023 progress update, 51 preliminary investigations were launched in 2022 for reported cases of VSS. Out of these 51, four were referred to the disciplinary committee and two resulted in sanctions against perpetrators.