Brussels Royal Museum Director Resigns After Allegations of Racism, Sexism, and Intimidation

A little over four months ago, employees at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels accused Michel Draguet, that museum’s director, of intimidation, racism, sexism, and homophobic remarks. Now, according to the Brussels Times, he will resign from his post on April 30.

In December, 31 of the museum’s 176 employees sent an open letter to Thomas Dermine, who, as Belgium’s Secretary of State, oversees federal museums. The letter detailed a number of allegations of inappropriate behavior.

Draguet seemed nonplussed by the allegations when they were first made public. He told the Belgian news outlet RTBF, which broke the story, that the allegations were “a surprise because there is obviously a lot of suffering and a lot of pain in this letter and we don’t didn’t notice it, nor was it heard in the consultation bodies with the unions.”

Draguet is also a professor in the art history and archaeology master’s degree program at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. Since the allegations surfaced, RTBF interviewed a number of Draguet’s students, some of whom said they were made to feel humiliated during oral exams and that he made transphobic and sexist remarks. Others said it was not uncommon to leave the class in tears.

When RBTF asked Draguet about “presence of feminist or decolonial issues” at his museum and of the addition of “inclusive writing” in museum communiqués, he noted that “the Royal Museums are a scientific institution and not of activism” and that there is no legal obligation to use inclusive language.

After the letter was reported, additional museum staff came out against Draguet, describing the director as “someone who is stuck in the past century” and a person who doesn’t hesitate to use to make inappropriate remarks, “even in meetings.”

Draguet will resign from his post on April 30 at the end of his third term as museum director, which began in 2005. Up until recently, he was actively seeking a fourth term. According to RBTF, he will continue working with the federal government’s scientific institutions, putting his expertise “at the service of heritage projects for the major strategic plan of federal museums.”

The Belgian Royal Library’s director, Sara Lammens, will act as interim director of the museum while a new leader is sought out.