A student entering an IEP, February 9, 2021. -

AFP

  • Since Monday, testimonies from students from Institutes of Political Studies have been flocking to Twitter to denounce the rapes and sexual assaults that have taken place in their schools.

  • A preliminary investigation was opened for rape in Toulouse, two for sexual assault in Grenoble and a report to justice in Strasbourg.

  • Frédérique Vidal and Elisabeth Morano tried this Wednesday to provide a first response.

A first response to a major crisis.

The Minister of Higher Education, Frédérique Vidal, and the Minister Delegate for Equality between Women and Men, Elisabeth Moreno, received this Wednesday the directors of the Institutes of Political Studies (IEP).

“We are going to help the IEPs to support the victims so that they can file a complaint,” said Frédérique Vidal after this meeting.

The IEPs have been affected since Monday by numerous testimonies from students reporting sexual violence: a preliminary investigation was opened for rape in Toulouse, two for sexual assault in Grenoble and a report to justice in Strasbourg.

These students claiming to be victims or witnesses of sexual violence, including rape, have multiplied the messages on Twitter since Monday with the hashtag #sciencesporcs.

These testimonies also reproach the directors of these establishments for their silence and the impunity from which the perpetrators of these acts, students or teachers, would benefit.

"We must open several channels for them to dare to express themselves"

This mobilization comes a few weeks after the shock resignation of Olivier Duhamel from the presidency of the National Foundation of Political Sciences (FNSPF, which heads the IEP of Paris), accused of incest on his stepson.

: the director of Sciences Po Paris, Frédéric Mion, presented his resignation Tuesday evening after being criticized because he admitted to having been aware of the accusations against Olivier Duhamel.

Listening cells for victims already exist "in nine or ten IEPs", explains Elisabeth Moreno.

“But sometimes the victims do not dare to speak.

So we have to open several channels for them to dare to express themselves, ”she continues.

"I am going to ask the general inspectorate to go to the IEPs to observe the devices already in place," said Frédérique Vidal.

The ministers want in particular to facilitate students' access to victim assistance associations and "train staff so that they know how to spot these situations" and so that they can better support victims legally.

Society

The hashtag #Sciencesporcs denounces rape and sexual assault in the Institutes of Political Studies

Society

Duhamel case: Sciences-Po director Frédéric Mion resigns

  • Violence against women

  • Rape

  • IEP

  • Frederique Vidal

  • Society