As part of a presentation linked to a marketing course, students from the EPHEC high school usually present at the Woluwe-St-Lambert site went to visit those from the Louvain-la-Neuve site on May 12 latest. An opportunity for them to meet and discuss. If no specific incident took place at the time of the presentations, everything did not go as planned.
A handful of students from Louvain-la-Neuve made inappropriate comments in a messaging group. In the private conversation, which is now circulating on various platforms, we can notably read racist remarks directed against Woluwe students of African and Arab origin.
“We are at the zoo here”, writes a student. “We see the difference between Woluwe and LLN,” replied another. “The safari is cheap” or “every time a group from Woluwe had finished, there was a group of macaques yelling, it was hell”. If all the members of the restricted group did not participate in this exchange, several of them still liked the messages they received.
A planned disciplinary council
EPHEC, which was made aware of the story, reacted quickly. She said on Twitter on Tuesday “to take the matter very seriously”. “The management condemns these intolerable remarks, in total contradiction with its values. The authors (and those who liked the exchanges) were immediately suspended as a precaution. A disciplinary council will be held very soon.” A dozen students are affected by the procedure.
Questioned by “La Libre Etudiant”, Emmanuelle Havrenne, Director-President of EPHEC confirms that the results of the disciplinary procedure will be known in the coming days. “The idea is not to drag things out,” she said, adding that she wanted the procedure to take place in a peaceful atmosphere and in accordance with the establishment’s rules.
If the director recalls that these remarks do not represent the whole of the school, she also calls for calm. “The scale that this is taking on social networks does not help us,” she explains. The authors of the remarks have indeed received threats in a private message. “We are aware of this,” said the director. “We do not endorse the initial comments or the calls for violence that followed.”