Hazing: the government calls for vigilance

Back to school, its integration weekends… and its more or less silly games. As the youth of French universities and schools prepare to indulge in their traditional welcoming rites, the Ministry of Education has taken up its pen to alert the directors of higher education establishments to the risks of hazing. .

“No tradition justifies humiliation”

“Although they have been decreasing for several years, unacceptable abuses and cases of hazing, most often in the context of excessive alcohol consumption, continue to exist”, can we read in a press release.

The ministry thus wishes to recall the possible remedies for victims of hazing, as well as the sanctions provided for those who inflict humiliating acts on their comrades. “No tradition or sense of belonging can justify degrading acts being inflicted on new students under group pressure,” insist the authors of the press release.

The government asks the directors of institutions (faculties, schools and high schools hosting STS and CPGE) to remind the entire student community and staff that “hazing constitutes a crime and that it undermines the dignity of the human person”. The rules of procedure must thus include a section devoted to disciplinary sanctions in the event of hazing.

In addition, the people who supervise the reception events as well as the students themselves must pay “particular attention” to the risks of hazing and to the testimonies of the victims. The ministry calls on establishments to put in place appropriate risk prevention systems.

The authors of the press release recall that “in the event of proven hazing, the public prosecutor must be notified without delay, and disciplinary proceedings initiated against the perpetrators or staff, if they participated or omitted to ‘prevent the facts from happening’.