FILE - in this March 15, 2001 file photo, Richard Descoings, director of the Institut d'etudes Politiques, or The Paris institute, stands outside the entrance of the school in Paris. Descoings has been found dead in a New York City hotel room, Tuesday afternoon, April 3, 2012. The Paris institute is better known in France as Sciences Po. It's considered a training ground for France's political, media and administrative elite. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon, file)
FILE - in this March 15, 2001 file photo, Richard Descoings, director of the Institut d'etudes Politiques, or The Paris institute, stands outside the entrance of the school in Paris. Descoings has been found dead in a New York City hotel room, Tuesday afternoon, April 3, 2012. The Paris institute is better known in France as Sciences Po. It's considered a training ground for France's political, media and administrative elite. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon, file)
PARIS (AP) ? President Nicolas Sarkozy and leading French minds paid homage Wednesday to the director of one of the country's top colleges, who pioneered efforts to open elitist schools to the underprivileged and bring in foreign students.
Richard Descoings, 53, was found dead and naked in a hotel room in New York on Tuesday, where he was on an official visit. The New York Police Department said they are awaiting a medical examiner's report to determine the cause of his death. A spokesman for New York police department said Tuesday there's no evidence a crime was committed.
The New York Police Department said police received an emergency call about an unconscious male in a hotel room. The identity of the caller was not immediately available.
Sarkozy said Descoings, who served for 16 years as the director of the Paris Institute of Political Studies, or Sciences Po, gave underprivileged students the chance to study at the prestigious school, which was once a symbol of the country's elitist educational system, marking "a historic turning point in awareness of scandalous social elitism in France."
France is well-known for its elitist educational system, where only a handful of schools, including Sciences Po, produce a majority of the country's top leaders. Descoings' tenure at Sciences Po has gone a long way in breaking down the barriers faced by students that come from less privileged backgrounds.
Sciences Po says that now one in four students benefit from scholarships, aimed at helping talented students with modest financial means.
Descoings also made the school "world renowned," after it opened it to foreign students, Sarkozy said.
Other high profile figures in France paid their respects, including Sarkozy's rival in presidential elections, Francois Hollande.
Hollande, himself a Sciences Po alumnus, spoke of his emotion at the loss of a man much admired for his friendliness, attentiveness and human touch.
Charles Rivkin, the U.S. ambassador to France, praised the scholar's international approach.
"His devotion to opening Sciences Po to international students, including many Americans, was admirable," Rivkin said in a statement.
Hundreds of students held an emotional memorial service Wednesday in the university grounds.
"Classes finished early this morning for the service," said international student Darko Manakovski, 27, "but the courtyard where it was taking place was so packed we had to watch from inside the building." He estimated that 1,000 people attended. "Everyone was shocked, really upset."
According to witnesses, hordes of teachers and students, many visibly shaken, packed the tree-filled courtyard in the heart of Paris' Left Bank during the hour-long service, closed to the media.
Hundreds of others visited the Sciences Po Facebook page to pay their respects with messages and photos.
Associated Pressspinal stenosis the forgotten man mike jones just friends chronicle rampart lance armstrong
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.