Is it a night duty police officer at the 7th arrondissement police station in Paris who now decides who can run the most prestigious establishment in France? For having been placed in police custody on December 3, as part of a virulent argument with his partner, Mathias Vicherat, the director of Sciences Po, was forced to withdraw. The premises on rue Saint-Guillaume were blocked, as were the campuses of Reims and Poitiers. Each time, “Vicherat resignation” posters were put up. The leader will no longer appear in the school until January 29, he accepted, in conjunction with the main authorities of the school.
In the heat of the moment, we became stunned by the curse which seems to affect the leaders of the great school of power, between death in office and resignations against a backdrop of incest. After a few days of astonishment, we wake up feeling uneasy. For what reason exactly did the director consent to his own suspension? Not his guilt, he denies all acts of violence that could be attributed to him. Not his indictment, it doesn’t exist. Not the complaint against him, there is none. These legal grounds are not absolute criteria.
Seeming of vague accusations
When the acts of violence are obvious, recognized or proven, relying on the presumption of innocence makes little sense. Olivier Duhamel, president of the National Foundation of Political Science, author of incest, was never indicted, saved by the statute of limitations. But the ignominy of the facts was enough to discredit him. Frédéric Mion, director of Sciences Po, has never been worried. He did not commit any criminal offense, just a moral fault, that of having lied about his knowledge of history. In the case of Mathias Vicherat, there is nothing obvious. Just a day in cell and a semblance of vague accusations that the press reported conditionally. His wife then signed a press release with him, denying any complaint. The phenomenon of control exists, it encourages caution. A preliminary investigation should clarify things.
We can also discuss Mathias Vicherat’s record, finding faults or even shortcomings in him. But that custody equals automatic withdrawal should raise alarm: this principle can only galvanize the most radical inclinations, the ever more intrusive injunctions to purity. At the end of the logic, it is the police who are all powerful here: the slightest suspicion is worth dismissal. As in any dictatorship.