DECLAN BUTLER Staff of Parisian biomedical research facility resign in mass protest.
[PARIS] The
board of directors of the Pasteur Institute in Paris has resigned en
masse, in the latest twist in a bitter dispute between staff and
management over the running of the institute. The dispute centres on plans to relocate part of the prestigious
research centre to a commercial zone on the city outskirts (see Nature432 788, 2004
) — but it also involves what critics see as the brash management
style of the institute's director-general, Philippe Kourilsky. The institute's board has 16 elected members and four appointed by
the government. The elected members are chosen every six years by its
assembly — a sort of parliament of some 100 members. Several board members have said they are unhappy with the direction
that the biomedical research institute is taking. And the board has
come under fire from the assembly and scientists for failing to
intervene. Last June, the assembly refused to approve the Pasteur's annual
report prepared by the board, in protest at a looming funding crisis
there (see Nature430 283, 2004),
and in December hundreds of scientists picketed a board meeting,
calling for the resignation of Kourilsky and board chairman Michel Bon. In these circumstances, says Nadine Peyrolo, a Pasteur spokeswoman,
the board felt it no longer had the legitimacy needed to govern the
institute. A new board that has the confidence of staff will have
renewed legitimacy, suggests Sophie Chevallon, a spokeswoman for the
science ministry, which has a permanent seat on the board. "We hope
this will help to find a way out of the crisis," she says. An extraordinary meeting of the assembly has been set for 15 March
to elect a new board. One of its most urgent tasks will be to re-elect
Kourilsky for another six-year term — or replace him. Shortly after the board resigned on 12 January, the Pasteur's
management e-mailed staff to announce that Kourilsky intends to send
them all a letter detailing his actions and informing them of his
"desire to open up a dialogue" with them. But in a telling sign of the climate on campus, an internal memo
from the institute's management says the dialogue will take the form of
an Internet chat between staff and Kourilsky on 21 January, in which
staff will have "perfect anonymity" so that "everyone can express
themselves freely". |
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