HEC reaffirms its values and its commitment to tolerance and diversity

HEC Paris was victim of an anti-Semitic graffiti attack last week. The tags were discovered by students on the morning of October 12, scrawled on the walls of a study room in a student housing building. School authorities immediately took the necessary measures to begin to identify the culprits and filed an official complaint with the Versailles police authorities. Together with HEC student and Alumni associations, they expressed their condemnation and outrage at this heinous act of aggression. The following reflects the position of HEC’s administration led by Peter Todd and representatives of the campus student councils, as shared in an extraordinary Town Hall assembly on October 15.

Hate has no place here. When we saw the pictures of the graffiti we felt outrage. A special kind of outrage. Discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated here. Anti-Semitism is discrimination of the most vile and reprehensible kind. It attacks the very foundations on which HEC Paris is based.

This school was built by, and for, a community that finds strength in its diversity in cultures, nationalities, languages, backgrounds and intellectual perspectives. This, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or religious beliefs.

All of us in the HEC community must uphold these values. This is a tolerant campus, it must be. Our diversity makes us stronger, it makes us better. It is the very basis for our excellence today, and it will be tomorrow. But that only remains true if we embrace and act for that diversity, developing a culture that is open to all. A culture free from discrimination of any kind.

Whilst we feel outrage, let us say that we also feel an equal measure of pride. Pride in the way the HEC community has come together, students, staff, faculty and Alumni, to denounce this attack on our people, on our community, on our values.

Yes, there is still much work to do. And we ask you to judge us not only by what we say, but more importantly by what we do. In this, we believe we are on the right path, working each day to support the way we live, act and come together on a campus that hosts students, staff and faculty from more than 100 nations.  Because this is our culture, this is who we are.

That work will know no end. But together, the HEC Paris community, our community, is resolute in a determination that we must resist forces of hatred. That we must care for each other. That we must support diversity, openness and inclusion on our campus, in our community and beyond.

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Peter Todd, Dean, HEC Paris

Karan Jain, President, Student Committee

Antoine Sarrazin, President, International Society

Brice Saint-Cricq, President, Bureau des Elèves

Diogo VIanna, President, MBA Council

Marie Vicente Lecointre, Delegate, Executive Education

Emilien Macault, PhD Association

Shuvashish Sharma, PhD Association