The Ministries of Health and Higher Education are carrying out a general inspection targeting the University of Tours. This is what franceinfo reveals this Friday morning. It aims to shed light on how this case was handled at the university level following serious facts brought to light on April 15 with collages in the premises of the medical school. The responsibility of the university is then called into question, accused of “protecting rapists” by the feminist collective Action féministe Tours and in particular a student targeted by five complaints and indicted.
Five young women accuse him, one of rape, the others of sexual assault between 2013 and 2020. Several say they have been assaulted in their sleep after private parties. Three were medical students, another had been met at a party, and the last was a high school student at the time and was only 15 years old.
Alerted on September 8, the president of the university chooses to do nothing
On September 8, 2020, a student from the Faculty of Medicine of Tours confides in the establishment’s listening committee before going to file a complaint. She claims she was sexually assaulted by a 4th grade student. The head of this listening committee warns the police and alerts, according to information from franceinfo, the administrative manager of the medical school by email and telephone. From that moment, she warned her interlocutors about “the dangers” that this student could represent during the internships he carried out as part of his studies, and in particular during his on-call gynecology. She also says to launch an internal and independent procedure.
The only one who can initiate disciplinary proceedings is the president of the university, Philippe Vendrix, but at the time, he chose to do nothing, and to wait to find out more. Nothing obliges him to take any measure, but this decision raises questions in view of the seriousness of the accusations. In November 2020, change of management. The new president, Arnaud Giacometti, ensures that he is not made aware of this affair. Questioned by franceinfo, he claims to have known of the facts only a few days ago, after the collages in the university in April 2022. However, according to an internal source at the university, all the elements relating to this affair were transmitted to the time of change of direction.
The suspect’s parents are reputable doctors in Tours
The dean of the Faculty of Medicine of Tours, Patrice Diot, decides on the other hand to take things in hand, outside of any official procedure. On September 10, a meeting is organized with several representatives of the management of the faculty and the hospital where the student is in training at that time. According to a source present at this meeting and whose story franceinfo was able to consult, the dean of the faculty then evokes the “delicacy of the file”, a reference to the parents of the boy, renowned doctors in Tours whom he knows.
On September 14, 2020, he received the boy’s parents, also met the accusers and the student in question. He then forbids the student to return to college. and go to his internship. Except that once again, this prohibition is done outside of any procedure and that there is no written record. Patrice Diot ensures that the measure was followed by the student, but at least two witnesses claim to have met the boy on several occasions at the place of the internship between mid-September and his placement in police custody, then in pre-trial detention on September 30, 2020.
Indictment and pre-trial detention
Despite the indictment and detention of the young man, the presidency of the university procrastinates and does not initiate any disciplinary proceedings. After two months in prison, he is released and placed under judicial supervision.. Justice authorizes him to continue his studies. On the other hand, he is forbidden to stay in Indre-et-Loire and is therefore looking for a new university. After several refusals, the University of Limoges accepts his candidacy, in particular because the boy’s university file does not include any sanction.
The president of the University of Limoges Isabelle Klock-Fontanille, specifies that the dean of the faculty of medicine of Limoges does not “did not consider himself capable of refusing the application” of this student because “presumption of innocence”, and the judicial review that allowed him to continue his studies. Above all, there was “no disciplinary action” pronounced by the faculty of Tours. If that had been the case, “we might not have accepted it” assures the president of the university.
A course in gynecology
Just after his arrival in Limoges, the student then began an internship in gynecology. An assignment that has “upset” the women behind the complaints. According to their lawyer, Me Marc Morin, “it’s like allowing an individual suspected of pedophile acts to work in a daycare center”.
A case beyond comprehension – Me Marc Morin, the plaintiffs’ lawyer
The president of the University of Limoges, however, disputes any problem with this assignment. According to her, “an algorithm” decided alone on this internship “mandatory”, “without the student’s wish”. He is also subject to surveillance measures in Limoges.. “He is forbidden to be alone with a student or a patient” says the president of the University of Limoges. Precautions received with skepticism from the side of the students. How indeed to ensure the implementation of this measure when most hospitals are constantly understaffed? Student representatives are to be received soon, on this point, by the presidency of the University of Limoges.
Patrice Diot filed a complaint on Tuesday
The Ministries of Higher Education and that of Health have ordered a general inspection to shed light on the way this affair was handled at the university level. The dean of the faculty of Tours has filed complaint this Tuesday for defamation, intrusion, and degradation against the collective behind the collages.