The Senghor promotion of the National School of Administration (ENA), that of Emmanuel Macron, has just provided a second director at Sciences Po: after Mathias Vicherat at the end of 2021, it is Luis Vassy who takes over, dubbed by the two governing councils of the Parisian establishment on September 19 and 20.
The new director will have to restore calm to a school in crisis. This is demonstrated, first of all, by the resignation of Mr. Vicherat in March 2024, referred to the courts with his ex-partner for acts of domestic violence. The school was thus torn apart by the conflict between Israel and Hamas throughout the spring, with a strong student mobilization against the war in Gaza, followed by numerous criticisms.
The interim administrator appointed after Mr Vicherat’s resignation, Jean Bassères, former head of France Travail, will officially hand over the post to Mr Vassy once the post is published in Official Journal a decree from the President of the Republic appointing the director of the Institute of Political Studies (IEP) in Paris, and an order from the future Minister of Higher Education appointing the administrator of the National Foundation of Political Sciences (FNSP). Luis Vassy is preparing to take on these two roles.
A non-academic profile
With 19 votes out of 25 (including 3 blank votes), the FNSP board of directors, composed of many members from outside the academic world (Alexandre Bompard, CEO of Carrefour, Ramón Fernández, CFO of CMA CGM, Henri de Castries, President of the Montaigne Institute, etc.), confirmed the choice made the day before by the Institute’s board (20 votes out of 31 in the second round), which includes the majority of professors and researchers.
Rostane Mehdi, professor of public law and director of the Institute of Political Studies in Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône), obtained 9 and 3 votes respectively in the two bodies. The third candidate in the race, Arancha González Laya, dean of the School of International Affairs at Sciences Po, chose to withdraw from the race on Friday morning, after having obtained only 8 votes before the IEP council.
Among the three candidates selected after an initial selection at the beginning of September, the two governing bodies opted for the only one who has a non-university profile and who has completed the ENA. “Saying “another enarque!” is a weak commentLaurence Bertrand-Dorléac, president of the FNSP, sweeps away. Not all enarques are the same, and neither are all academics. » The historian adds that Luis Vassy is not the first diplomat to head Sciences Po: “Roger Seydoux was there between 1936 and 1947, a pioneer in social openness linked to the Popular Front government. »
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