Sciences Po appoints new director after leadership controversies

Sciences Po has appointed Luis Vassy its new director, six months after his predecessor, Mathias Vicherat, resigned to face domestic violence charges and three years after Mr Vicherat’s own forerunner, Frédéric Mion, stepped down after sexual abuse allegations were made against the institution’s chairman.

Mr Vassy is a former French ambassador to the Netherlands, while he most recently served as chief of staff to two successive ministers for Europe and foreign affairs, Catherine Colonna and Stéphane Séjourné. A Sciences Po alumnus, he was elected to the role by the boards of the Institut d’études politiques (IEP), responsible for teaching and research at the institution, and the Fondation Nationale des Sciences Politiques (FNSP), which determines strategy and financial governance. He will begin his role on 1 October.

“I am deeply honoured to be the new director of Sciences Po, a world-class academic institution that contributes to France’s influence,” Mr Vassy said in a statement. “As a former student, I am strongly committed to its mission of promoting social diversity through excellence. At a time of multiplying crises and upheavals in France and around the world, our country needs an institution capable of dealing with them using knowledge, rather than fear and withdrawal.”

Mr Vassy will no doubt aim to bring an end to the crises and upheavals at his own institution, after two consecutive directors resigned amid outcry. Mr Vicherat first stepped aside as director last December after he and his former partner were both interviewed by police, each accusing the other of domestic abuse. Up to 100 protesters staged a sit-in at Sciences Po’s main Paris campus, demanding his resignation.

In March, Mr Vicherat resigned when both he and his former partner were ordered to stand trial. Denying the “accusations of violence”, the former director said he was stepping down to protect the reputation of Sciences Po.

His predecessor, Frédéric Mion, resigned in February 2021 after admitting to having known about child abuse allegations against the then-chairman of the university’s governing board, political scientist Olivier Duhamel, and failing to take action.

Professor Duhamel resigned from the board after his stepdaughter alleged in a memoir that he had sexually abused her twin brother. Sciences Po students went on to allege endemic abuse at the institution and a failure of staff to combat it, sharing their experiences on social media.

Civil servant Jean Bassères was appointed provisional administrator of Sciences Po after Mr Vicherat’s resignation, and has remained in the role until the election of Mr Vassy.

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com