The Who2 Blog

Rough Year for French Intellectuals in New York City Hotels

Last May it was the strange Sofitel story of Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

Now this:

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.

Richard Descoings (pronounced day-KWAHNG), was the director of the Paris Institute of Political Studies. He was beloved for giving underprivileged students a better shot at the prestigious school, “which was once a symbol of the country’s elitist educational system.”  

Nicolas Sarkozy said today that Descoings’ efforts were “a historic turning point in awareness of scandalous social elitism in France.”

Descoings was in the upscale Michelangelo Hotel. The Daily News says “A staffer at the W. 51st St. hotel discovered Descoings naked on his bed after his worried colleagues asked to have the room checked when he failed to show up at a morning conference at Columbia University.”

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