French scholar Richard Descoings found dead in New York

The director of one of France's most prestigious colleges has been found dead in a New York City hotel room.

New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne says employees at The Michelangelo hotel in Manhattan found the nude body of Richard Descoings on Tuesday afternoon.

Descoings served as the director of the Paris Institute of Political Studies. He was in his 50s.

Browne says investigators are awaiting a medical examiner's report to determine the cause of the scholar's death. He says there's no evidence a crime was committed.

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. Alumni include former President Jacques Chirac.

AP