“A top priority” : upon his arrival at the head of Sciences Po Paris in November 2021, Mathias Vicherat placed his mandate under the sign of the fight against “sexist and sexual violence” (SGBV). The subject marks his return to duty since January 29, after the shock caused by his twenty-four-hour police custody, with his partner Anissa Bonnefont, and the opening of a preliminary investigation for domestic violence on the 4 December.
The director is eagerly awaited by students, teachers and also staff, who deplored the fact that a new scandal would tarnish the reputation of their establishment. Frédéric Mion, the previous director, had to resign for having concealed accusations of incest targeting political scientist Olivier Duhamel, president of the National Foundation of Political Sciences (FNSP).
For the moment, the treatment of the subject of the fight against sexist and sexual violence is far from having met the expectations, pressing since the #sciencesporcs wave, in spring 2021, which shook all political studies institutes , revealing dozens of sexual assaults against female students. Sciences Po Paris prided itself on having put in place an exemplary system from the start of the 2021 school year: any report systematically triggers an investigation carried out by the preliminary internal investigation unit (CEIP), chaired by a magistrate.
“I don’t feel safe”
In the case of Clara, however (her first name has been changed to maintain her anonymity), “Things did not go at all as the school promised”denounces the student, who confided in World. She reported, on July 29, 2022, a rape that occurred on the night of June 21 to 22, during a stay in Greece organized by a student association. It took fifteen months for the matter to be fully handled by the establishment. This delay – “exceptionally long”, concedes the management of Sciences Po – allowed the alleged attacker to graduate in June 2023. Indeed, his summons to the disciplinary section (the competent body to decide the situations examined by the investigation unit) does not took place only in October. “If the disciplinary section had met before, he would not have graduated”assures today the entourage of Mathias Vicherat, who evokes “a particularly difficult matter, which is not representative of the functioning of the cell”.
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