Upheaval at the University of Réunion. The president, Frédéric Miranville, has been “suspended for a year as a precautionary measure,” the Ministry of Higher Education said following an investigation into acts of harassment. The reports relate to instances of moral harassment over several months, a source familiar with the matter told AFP.
“After a thorough investigation by the services of the Ministry and given the seriousness of the facts revealed by the administrative investigation, the Minister (Sylvie Retailleau) took the decision, in the interests of the institution and its employees, to suspend the President of the University of Réunion,” says the Press release. “At the same time, contact will be made in the coming days with the relevant disciplinary court so that proceedings can be opened against the president of the university,” he added, pointing out that this decision follows several phases of a process initiated in the spring.
A letter dated March 7th
In its press release, the ministry states that on March 7, 2023 it received a letter “in which the minister was alerted to the existence of harassment at the University of Réunion”. “This letter, sent by seven signatories who held or held positions, some of them managerial, in the institution, reported serious dysfunction within the institution. These reports particularly concerned the president of the university,” it said.
Sylvie Retailleau then contacted the General Inspectorate of Education, Sports and Research (IGESR) on March 10 to conduct an administrative investigation. She conducted her investigation for almost four months and then submitted a final version of her report in July. “After the mission identified facts requiring criminal classification at the end of its investigation, the results of the administrative investigation were transmitted by the IGESR to the public prosecutor’s office of Saint-Denis-de-La-Meeting,” the statement said.