Haute Études Commerciales (HEC), the business school at the University of Montreal, is facing a human rights complaint after students painted their bodies black for an Olympic back-to-school sporting event.
The event, organized by HEC’s sports and leisure committee, was hosted at the University of Montreal’s football stadium. Each group of students that partook in the event represented a different Olympic sport.
HEC Communications Director Kathleen Grant explained that the group of students given track and field had “decided to honour the Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt.” The students in question painted their arms, legs and faces with black paint, dressed in Jamaica’s national colours, and waved Jamaican flags.
McGill law student Anthony Morgan was on the University of Montreal campus at the time of the event. He initially saw some of the students in question on the street, and later made his way over to the stadium, where he began filming in the stands.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” Morgan, who is of Jamaican descent, said. “It was […] a total situation of life and cultural illiteracy. Students were chanting ‘smoke more weed, ya man, ya man, ya man!'”
A student wearing a monkey hat greeted Morgan and exclaimed, “We have a real black here!”
Morgan felt “deep disappointment” at the behavior he witnessed. “These students are so underexposed that, to them, it makes sense to reduce humanity to mere cosmetics,” Morgan said, expressing concern that the perpetrators were not just university students, but in business school.
“These are going to be the people managing the corporate world. Is this where they’re starting?”
While Morgan believed there was “no direct malice” or racist intent in the costumes, he challenged the claim that the event’s theme was ‘Olympics.’ Morgan also saw groups dressed as fishermen and cheerleaders. “These are [clearly] not Olympic teams,” he said.
Morgan plans to file a human rights complaint with the Quebec Human Rights Commission. “They have the resources and expertise to do a proper investigation […] and provide suggestions and policy recommendations about how [this behavior] can be avoided in the future,” Morgan said.
The HEC took the situation very seriously. “This is the first time we have had to face this kind of issue,” Grant said. “The event was a bad idea, we agree … it was perceived as [racist] and we completely understand why.”
Concerning the students involved, both Morgan and Grant agree that the appropriate course of action is education.
“There is a discussion that needs to be had,” Morgan said. “I think [the HEC] should take this as an opportunity to discuss the place and presence, or lack thereof, of race and multiculturalism in their university.”
The HEC’s plan of action reflects Morgan’s recommendations. The students who painted themselves in blackface will have to attend a compulsory training session on intercultural sensitivity. “This is the first step,” Grant said.
The HEC intends on eventually making these new courses available to the rest of the student body. “We want the program to be durable, not only for this fall, but for the years to come,” Grant said. “We will propose that the community [gain] more awareness about these issues, which are important in our society.”
The student body of the HEC is diverse, with students hailing from over 100 countries around the world. Grant hopes that as a result of the new program, incoming students will be better prepared for their exposure to new cultures.
“We look at the situation as being bad now, but a year from now, we will be stronger because of it,” Grant said.
In light of the recent events, Morgan hopes students across Canada will also organize cross-cultural public discussions around the place of race and multiculturalism in their university.
