As of today, it is explicitly forbidden for ULB students to take off their clothes during all kinds of activities. The reason is a controversial video that surfaced this weekend in which you can see how some students imitated naked sex scenes. Three students also received an official warning from the vice rector on Monday.
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‘At the Cercle de Droit one is not bored, one is not bored. Our shafts get a nice baptism. They are smeared with semen (…) and five years later they become lawyers or magistrates.’ That is literally what it says in the anthem of Cercle de Droit, an association of law students at the French-speaking university ULB.
The student club came into disrepute this weekend after amateur images that resembled a hazing ritual, in the middle of the ULB campus in Ixelles. The footage clearly showed some completely naked students imitating explicit sex scenes, while the rest of the sorority stood around, cheering loudly. That happened in broad daylight and casual passers-by unwittingly witnessed it. One of them filmed everything and posted the footage on social media. After the images leaked, the university has provisionally suspended the student club in question. On Monday, the Praesidium was also questioned by the Vice Rector of the ULB. After a conversation it turned out that it was not a ‘baptism scandal’ in which shafts were forced to undress. According to the university, these are all older members who participated in a ‘folkloric activity’. ‘The people who participate in these activities do so voluntarily. There is no obligation,” it sounds.
No more nudity
Ophélie Boffa, spokeswoman for the ULB, also emphasizes that it was not only the law students in the images, but that several student clubs were involved. Still, the nude activity was not acceptable. Three naked students received an official warning from the vice rector. If they again violate the student charter, they will have to appear before the disciplinary committee. But the ULB is taking another measure: the charter will be amended immediately and will from now on permanently ban nudity for all student activities. Previously, this was only the case for baptismal rites and other events involving harm. ‘From now on, this will also apply to older members and students. That proposal came from the chairmen of the student clubs involved themselves’, it sounds.
Marine Randoux, president of Cercle de Droit, said on Monday that he did not want to respond to the incident on behalf of the entire student club.
This year’s charter for student clubs at KU Leuven also states that members can never be obliged to show themselves wholly or partially naked. The obligation to do so may not be a mandatory condition for successfully completing an assignment during an activity.
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