France’s top university is facing a new crisis as its leader resigns

One of France’s most elite universities was left without a leader for the second time in just three years on Wednesday after its director, Mathias Vicherat, resigned amid a lawsuit over domestic violence allegations.

The university, Sciences Po in Paris, has produced five of the last eight French presidents and more than a dozen prime ministers, as well as top business leaders, well-known journalists and dozens of senior officials. It aims to become even stronger by diversifying its student base compete internationally for students.

But the resignation of 45-year-old Vicherat, who denied any wrongdoing and said he resigned to protect Sciences Po’s position, was the latest in a series of internal turmoil that has tarnished the school’s reputation.

Mr. Vicherat’s predecessor, Frédéric Mion, resigned in 2021 after admitting he failed to take action against a longtime professor and board member despite knowing of incest allegations against him; an investigation into the professor by prosecutors was later dropped because the statute of limitations had expired. The school’s previous director, Richard Descoings, was found dead in a Manhattan hotel room in 2012 — a death that was followed by an embarrassing government audit of the school’s use of public funds.

Sciences Po said in a statement on Wednesday that it had “taken note” of Mr Vicherat’s resignation “to protect the institution”, but did not comment on the turmoil surrounding his departure.

Laurence Bertrand Dorléac, head of the National Foundation for Political Science, a private entity that oversees the university’s budget and governance strategy, said in a message to faculty and students that a provisional board would be appointed in the coming days.

“We will all be united around our core values, our missions of research, education and support for our students, the proper functioning of the institution and the best choice for its leadership,” said Ms. Bertrand Dorléac.

Mr Vicherat, a civil servant who previously worked at Paris City Hall, France’s national railway company and Danone, a French food giant, took the helm of Sciences Po in 2021 and pledged to prioritize efforts to prevent sexual violence and sexism . But that promise was marred in December when French news media reported that he and his former partner, film director Anissa Bonnefont, had been briefly detained by police after accusing each other of domestic violence.

Although neither has filed formal charges, prosecutors have continued to pursue the case. On Wednesday, the Paris prosecutor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and it was not clear when a trial might take place.

Ms Bonnefont posted her shock on social media in December and asked for privacy. “The grief of couples is part of couples,” she wrote, “and it is never all white on one side and all black on the other.”

The allegations sparked outrage against Mr. Vicherat, who temporarily stepped aside before returning to the school in late January under certain conditions set by school officials. Some students staged sit-ins or put up posters demanding his departure.

In an emailed statement to students and faculty members, Mr. Vicherat said Wednesday that he had decided to resign because he and Ms. Bonnefont had been ordered to stand trial in criminal court.

“I still deny the allegations of violence made against me,” he said, noting that the lawsuit continued “without a complaint ever being filed by either party.”

“As I have already written, it is not so much my person as the attitude that is important to me. Therefore, in order to preserve it, I have decided to resign from my position as president of the Institut d’études politiques de Paris,” he added, using the formal name for Sciences Po, which he called an “admirable institution” .

Student unions who had expressed anger at his brief return welcomed his resignation. One, the Union Étudiante, called his departure “late” but “inevitable.”

Mr Vicherat’s resignation took place amid “a particularly tense climate for the institution, whose management has completely lost legitimacy in the seriousness and sincerity of its fight against sexist and sexual violence.” said in a statementadding that his successor should “take an active part” in that struggle.