Commission on the Fight against Gender-Based and Sexual Violence

You can read the full list of the working group’s recommendations below.

Monitoring and support services for victims of sexual and gender-based violence

• Expand and coordinate on-campus mechanisms for reporting instances of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). In particular, raise the visibility of nearby support services that can be contacted to report troubling behaviour or incidents.
• Appoint a cross-campus network of contact persons to whom incidents on any campus may be reported.
• Outsource the university’s Helpline and Monitoring Unit for victims of SGBV to a specialised professional organisation.
• Concentrate the Helpline’s activities on a series of specific missions, i.e. coordinating and running a network of contact persons, collecting information about referrals, publishing an annual report, liaising with the Sciences Po Health Centre, transferring report files to senior management for investigation, setting guidelines, organising the awareness-raising and training initiatives that have been requested on a massive scale by members of all Sciences Po communities.
• Enhance the system for providing legal information and advice to victims, witnesses and anyone who raises concern about an incident.
• Strengthen the material and educational support for victims of SGBV.

Disciplinary procedure

• Systematically launch an internal investigation into every report and formalise the procedure for this internal investigation.
• Formalise procedures legally and professionalise the internal investigation body.
• Develop information about the disciplinary procedures and sanctions imposable across the Sciences Po community.
• Make sanctions imposed public, while preserving the anonymity of those involved.
• Implement protective measures for victims throughout the procedure.

Identifying and preventing situations of risk

Risks around student social events

• Make it compulsory for all students joining the university to complete training on the definition and types of SGBV, consent and the sanctions imposable for a breach of institution rules.
• Repeat training sessions regularly.
• Communicate more widely about funds set aside by the Campus Life and Student Engagement Department (DVCE) for student associations.
• Make preventive materials available to all associations.
• Exercise stronger control over the allocation of subsidies to associations.
• Run training initiatives organised by the DVCE for all association members on all campuses.
• Introduce a safety protocol for associations to follow when organising student social events.

Internships, gap years, research visits, apprenticeships, Civic Learning Programme placements

• Expand and systematise pre-leaving preparation for all Sciences Po students spending a period of time off-campus.
• During discussions with the host organisation, remind them of Sciences Po’s intense vigilance regarding any kind of inappropriate situation and the immediate action that will be taken in response.
• For the benefit of academic advisors and mentors, clarify the procedures to follow when dealing with a host organisation that has been the subject of a report by a student.
• Reintroduce SGBV training for all students preparing for an off-campus period.
• Develop a leaving kit summarising any information that may be useful to students during their time away from Sciences Po.
• Make international students on exchange at Sciences Po aware of nearby support services and the university’s specific rules regarding SGBV.
• Exercise stronger control over the allocation of subsidies to student associations.
• Add a section to the internship evaluation form giving students the opportunity to signal any inappropriate or violent behaviour and/or discrimination they may have experienced.
• Make mentoring a standard practice for all apprentices.
• Heighten vigilance around the working relationships established by PhD supervisors and host laboratories with PhD students conducting research or field work.

Social media and cyber-harassment

• Distribute Sciences Po’s Use of IT Systems Charter effectively across the board.
• Generalise training on the risks of social media for heads of student associations and the whole student body.
• Develop training on the legal classification and treatment of offences linked to social media, for association members, faculty and the student body.
• Set up a multi-purpose alert platform and reinforce disciplinary measures for issues of cyber-harassment and social media-related offences.
• Develop teaching and research around new digital cultures and the dynamics of discrimination and violence arising from them.

Off-campus activities for permanent faculty members

• Enhance information about support services available at the university.
• Inform public officials who have been victims of an offense in relation to their work of the Principal of Functional Protection (Principe de la protection fonctionelle) in French law, designed to protect employees working in the public sector.

Teacher-student relationships

Temporary faculty members

• Include a text summarising the ten recommendations for Science Po faculty members as an appendix to the engagement letter for temporary staff, with signature required.
• Make recruitment conditional upon completion of an online SGBV training course.
• Add a section asking for details of any potential inappropriate relationships instigated by the faculty member with their students to the evaluation form.
• Formalise a protocol for academic advisors to follow in the event of a report.
• Systematically report incidents to the principal organisation employing the temporary faculty member in question.
• Circulate a centralised summary internally of all situations disqualifying temporary faculty members from obtaining new teaching positions in the future.
• Clarify (and formalise if necessary) the procedure for recruiting temporary faculty members across the university.

PhD candidates

• Enforce strict compliance with the rule as to the maximum number of PhDs supervised by qualified faculty members.
• Establish a generalised and uniform procedure for the running of thesis committees, in line with the conditions of the PhD programme.
• Affirm the role of the Dean of the School of Research as arbiter in the event of any difficulties or conflict between a PhD candidate, their director and/or their host laboratory.
• Publish information regarding the mediation mechanisms available to PhD candidates at the School of Research.
• Encourage collaboration, interaction and independent intellectual socialisation for Master’s and PhD students within their labs.
• Improve supervision of post-doctoral researchers and research assistants within labs and research centres.
• Circulate information regarding the stance to take and procedure to follow in the event of a report made to faculty members or internship and apprenticeship supervisors.
• Run teacher training for young faculty members (PhD candidates).

SGBV within the staff community

• Circulate information regarding the contact points and services available to the staff community for reporting incidents. Establish discreet communication channels (email, phone lines, post box).
• Formalise the procedure for investigations by the HR Department (DRH) into reports made by members of staff, following a parallel model to that adopted for internal investigations.
• Develop information regarding disciplinary procedures and sanctions.

Training, Research, Teaching

• Implement a general compulsory SGBV awareness-raising initiative for all people present at Sciences Po, adapted according to their position within the institution.
• Introduce a broad range of in-depth training courses. These should be compulsory for certain staff groups or bodies, as determined by their position, and open on an optional basis to anyone interested in participating.
• Regularly repeat and review all training programmes, so as to foster a strong shared culture around SGBV.
• Firm support from the institution for all activities and new research initiatives aimed at advancing understanding and awareness around SGBV and feeding into teaching.

Sciences Po’s Gender Equality Policy

• Step up the Plan of Action for Gender Equality at Sciences Po, in line with recommendations from the French government and the EU.
• Set up a more efficient and uniform network of Gender Equality Liaisons.
• Commit to taking firm action to ensure parity across teaching staff, including among temporary faculty members (particularly by increasing transparency in the advertising of available teaching posts and streamlining the allocation process).
• Assist female students in their choice of study paths and entry into the job market (particularly by making use of support from the alumni community).

Composition of the commission on gender-based and sexual violence:

• Émilie BILAND-CURINIER, Professor, Center for Sociology of Organisations (CSO), member of PRESAGE (Gender Studies and Research Programme)
• Mathéa BOUDINET, elected doctoral student to the Institute’s Board of Directors
• Amandine BUISSON, student at the School of Public Affairs, rapporteur of the commission
• Francesca CABIDDU, Director of Students and Teachers’ Support and Services
• Pascale EISENBERGER, elected teaching associate representative at the Institute’s Board of Directors
• Stefania GHERCA, elected student representative to the Student Life & Education Committee - UNEF student union
• Léonard GOURINAT, Director of legal affairs, purchases and contracts
• Amy GREENE, Gender Equality Supervisor
• Frédéric GROS, University Professor, Centre for Political Research (CEVIPOF)
• Danièle HERVIEU-LEGER, Honorary Director of Studies and former President of the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), President of the commission
• Christelle HOTEIT, elected staff representative - CFDT
• Arnaud JULLIAN, Secretary General
• Sandrine LANCEREAU, elected staff representative - Autonomes pour Sciences Po / FO
• Agathe LECOULANT, elected student representative to the Student Life & Education Committee - UNI
• Rachida LEMMAGHTI, Regional Director for Women's Rights and Equality at the Paris and Ile-de-France Prefecture; former Gender Equality Officer, University Paris-Diderot
• Hélène PERIVIER, economist, French Economic Observatory (OFCE), director of PRESAGE (Gender Studies and Research Programme)
• Élise ROUGER, elected student representative to the Student Life & Education Committee - Solidaires Étudiants
• Malika SADAOUI, elected staff representative - CFTC
• Sébastien THUBERT, Director of Campus Life and Student Engagement
• Raphaël ZAOUATI, elected student representative, student vice-president of the Institute’s Board of Directors - NOVA