This is a decision that many were waiting for, and which very quickly caused a reaction in the press and on social networks. Tuesday February 9, 2021, one month after the charges of incest against Olivier Duhamel, the director of Sciences Po Paris has announced his resignation. After admitting to having been aware of the alleged actions of the professor of constitutional law for almost two years, and while his prestigious school is also suspected of having covered up rapes, Frédéric Mion finally gave in to the pressure. A few days earlier, around 100 students had demonstrated in front of the university premises to demand the departure of their director.
The next day, Wednesday February 10, Sandrine Rousseau was invited on the set of C to you to react to this resignation. A figure in the fight against sexual violence, the vice-president of the University of Lille – also a candidate for the primary of Europe Ecology The Greens for the 2022 presidential election – notably returned to the case that opposed her to Denis Baupin. In 2017, Sandrine Rousseau denounced the attacks she had suffered from the politician, who then sued her for defamation. Although he was ultimately convicted of abuse of process, this story continued to harm his accuser.
Olivier Duhamel and Gérald Darmanin, side by side on the board of directors of Sciences Po Lille
“I applied for several positions after, and people who are now accused of sexual violence have blocked my way. This is the case of Olivier Duhamel and Gérald Darmanin for example", explains Sandrine Rousseau. Presenter Anne-Elisabeth Lemoine then asks him about the link between the political scientist and the Minister of the Interior. In 2019, Sandrine Rousseau was a candidate for the presidency of Sciences Po Lille. But although she won the student vote, the board invalidated her election. Within it then sat Olivier Duhamel, as President of the National Foundation for Political Science, and Gérald Darmanin, as an “external personality” and former student. The first resigned from his post very recently, after his daughter-in-law Camille Kouchner's accusations against him, while the second left his post since December 2019. At the time, a student petition was launched for himself. oppose his re-election, following the rape complaints filed against him.
According to Sandrine Rousseau, the two men in a way joined forces to have her election to the university's board of directors annulled: "Olivier Duhamel, who never took part in any vote on the management of Sciences Po, voted against for the first time. No doubt on the grounds that the personality and the struggles that I embodied had no place at Sciences Po”, she believes in front of the cameras of France 5. The EELV representative added that at the time, "a lot of cases of sexual violence ” were already coming back to his ears. “Students, and especially female students, complained that they were mismanaged”, explains Sandrine Rousseau, who made this subject one of the main thrusts of her campaign.
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