Following the publication of a songbook by the Ultraviolets Association on Sunday September 2 there has been outcry from students regarding the controversial content of the songbook. The controversy sparked a debate about the thin line between freedom of speech and hate speech.
The songbook was published on Facebook prior to a UV event called the Hungover Games at the end of Integration Week. Some of the chants featured in the songbook included jokes about drug cartels in Latin America, the September 11 attacks in New York, the Strauss-Kahn sexual assault case and the bombing of Hiroshima, among others.
The now-deleted Facebook post first faced criticism on September 3 when students demanded it be taken down and rewritten. This is not the first time that the Ultraviolet chants have been criticized. In previous years, there have been multiple student attempts to remove the chants from the songbook.
After the initial criticism of the chant’s lyrics on social media, the Sciences Po Campus de Reims administration released a statement through to the entire student body on September 4 at 6:22 p.m.
That same evening, the anonymous Facebook confession page Yik-Yak ScPo Reims published a post pertaining to the criticism of the Ultraviolets association which gained traction and multiple reactions from students. Responses included criticism of the association and of the chants, defenses on the basis of freedom of speech and mockery of the situation in its entirety.
The debate continued on the evening of September 5 with more anonymous posts that defended or criticized the chants and their supporters. These also gathered multiple responses from students, with a vocal majority denouncing the posts that supported the chants. Students also criticized the confessions, as they were shrouded behind anonymity and did not have to be held accountable for their comments.
On September 6 the Euraf and Euram Student Representatives released a joint statement on their respective Facebook accounts where they denounced the discourse used in the chants and reinstated the importance of complying with the Règlement de Scolarité as a student association on campus.
A few hours after the statement was released Anne-Charlotte, Student Life Advisor, sent out an email to the student body containing an apology on behalf of the Ultraviolets Association.
The Sundial Press will continue to follow up on this story and inform readers if there are any other developments.
