Students occupy French elite school after director’s arrest for violence

Students at one of France's most prestigious universities were occupying its premises on Thursday demanding the departure of its director following his arrest on suspicion of domestic violence.

Published: 7 December 2023 14:02 CET

Students occupy French elite school after director's arrest for violence

Protestors stand in front of a banner reading "Protected aggressors, abandoned victims, Sciences Po paradise of impunity" during a protest at the Sciences Po university in Paris, on December 7, 2023. (Photo by Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP)

Mathias Vicherat, director of the Sciences Po social sciences university, and his partner Anissa Bonnefont were arrested on Sunday, each accusing the other of domestic violence. They were released on Monday.

Up to 100 students were staging a sit-in at the main university building in Paris, in the left-bank area of Saint-Germain, according to student organisations, backed by a vote at the student body’s general assembly.

“The only possible response by the administration is to suspend Mathias Vicherat from all his duties, and his resignation,” a text approved by the student body said.

Students were “indignant” at the “persistent climate of impunity” at Sciences Po, it said.

Vicherat has written to students, teachers and staff, promising to meet with them “very soon”.

Vicherat was appointed head of Sciences Po after the forced resignation of his predecessor Frederic Mion, accused of covering up incest allegations against star political scientist Olivier Duhamel who was head of the Sciences Po Foundation which has strategic oversight over the university.

“He was elected following the Duhamel-Mion scandal, almost entirely on the strength of a plan to fight sexual and sexist violence,” said one fifth-year student who asked not to be named. “He no longer has any legitimacy to carry out this programme.”

He should at least be suspended, she said, “or even better, resign”.

Another student belonging to a student union, who gave only his first name Tristan, said “more than anything we want the school to fundamentally change the way it functions”.

Sciences Po counts several leading personalities from politics, business and culture among its alumni.

They include former French presidents Jacques Chirac, Georges Pompidou and Francois Mitterrand, as well as current President Emmanuel Macron.

Former UN chief Boutros Boutros-Ghali also went to Sciences Po, as did former Iranian prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh and Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau.

Designer Christian Dior, director Louis Malle and writer Marcel Proust are also alumni.

Sciences Po was founded in 1872 to train civil servants, but gradually opened up to students seeking careers in the private sector.

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The report – released on the eve of the World Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia – documents a 13 percent jump in anti-LGBTQ offences from 2022.

More serious crimes including assaults, threats, and harassment saw a 19 percent increase, with 2,870 instances recorded by French authorities.

“It feels like the embers of LGBTI-phobia have been lit, and now the fire is ready to take hold,” said president of French activist group SOS Homophobie Julia Torlet.

“What worries us most are the emerging trends…we are extremely concerned,” Torlet added, saying “if the government doesn’t act” France risks backsliding into the violence seen in 2013 over the legalisation of same-sex marriage.

The number of anti-LGBTQ incidents has risen sharply – about 17 percent on average each year for crimes and misdemeanours – since 2016, according to the interior ministry.

But these figures only paint part of the picture.

Men account for the majority of both victims and perpetrators in anti-LGBTQ incidents, accounting for 70 and 82 percent, respectively.

Moreover, the perpetrators are predominately young, with nearly half of all accused under 30 and more than a third under 19, says the report.

While the report says victims are now “better received” by authorities, only 20 percent of those subjected to threats or violence and five percent of victims of verbal abuse file a complaint.

“We’re past the worry stage,” spokesman for Stop Homophobie Maxime Haes told AFP.

Anti-LGBTQ acts are linked to the “drastic increase in LGBT-phobic discourse,” said Haes, which he says are fuelled by “the rise of the far right and religious extremism”.

The owner of a bar in Nantes, a city in western France, told regional newspaper Ouest-France it cancelled an LGBTQ-friendly event in early May over safety concerns after a poster featuring individuals in religious habits sparked an “outpouring of hate” online.

And in France, 60 percent of people avoid holding hands with same-sex partners for fear of being assaulted, according to a 2024 report from the European Agency for Fundamental Rights.

The country has also seen a spike in transphobic discourse, Haes said.

SOS Homophobie has denounced what it calls “abysmal government silence” and criticised the lack of “ambitious policy” on LGBTQ issues even after the appointment of out gay Prime Minister Gabriel Attal earlier this year.

“Hate speech is not being combatted at all by politicians,” Haes of Stop Homophobie added.