Quebec biology students allege degrading hazing at Université de Sherbrooke

WARNING: The following article contains graphic de‐ scriptions of degrading treatment.

An investigation by RadioCanada has found that some biology students at the Uni‐ versité de Sherbrooke experi‐ enced hazing last year.

Students described being sprayed with water guns filled with horse urine, being asked to eat another per‐ son's vomit as well as being asked to swim naked in a nearby lake.

The events allegedly oc‐ curred during orientation week in August 2023.

The CBC and Radio-Cana‐ da have agreed to keep the students' names confidential because they are still attend‐ ing the university, and they fear reprisal for speaking out.

Alexandre, a student who has been given a pseudo‐ nym, compared his second day at the university to a "military boot camp."

"We were all on our knees and insults were shouted at us," he said. "They [the haz‐ ers] arrived with a pan filled with a kind of porridge that we had to eat. [...] A guy got sick. We got yelled at so much that someone else agreed to eat it [the vomit]."

Hazing activities involving animal urine, incitements to undress in public and other forms of humiliation also oc‐ curred in 2019, according to Radio-Canada sources who described those actions as "traditions."

Orientation activities are meant to be an opportunity for students to build a circle of friends in a new school en‐ vironment. They are general‐ ly organized by second-year students who commit to fol‐ lowing several guiding princi‐ ples dictated by the Univer‐ sité de Sherbrooke and ob‐ tain approval for the activi‐ ties that will be offered to new students.

Another student, whom the CBC is calling Marie, also says she had a bad experi‐ ence during the series of events, where she had hoped to connect with other new students in the biology pro‐ gram.

"After the sort of military camp, they put us back on our knees, in rows," she said. "They started spraying us with water guns. We quickly realized that they were filled with urine from a mare in heat."

Naked in Lac des Na‐ tions

Several games were orga‐ nized at Jacques-Cartier Park, but one activity in particular took students by surprise.

Participants were al‐ legedly told to go skinny dip‐ ping in Lac des Nations ac‐ cording to several RadioCanada sources. Signage on the bank indicates that swim‐ ming in the lake is prohib‐ ited.

Marie said the hazers in‐ sisted that students undress themselves before pressur‐ ing them to jump in the lake.

"They told us we were id‐ iots if we didn't do it," she said. "I refused, but others really did it. It created a lot of discomfort afterward with those who had said no."

Other students, like Ju‐ lianne (not her real name), didn't hesitate to take off their clothes and go swim‐ ming.

"I just did it because I felt like it," she said. "The more clothes you took off to go in the lake, the more points you got," she said.

Her participation earned her an "X" drawn on her face - a mark to identify the most "resourceful" among new students, which the hazers said was worth its weight in gold.

"We didn't know it at the time, but it was the start of lots of tests," Julianne said. "They really wanted to see how far we were willing to go."

The next test allegedly consisted of running a few hundred metres on Welling‐ ton Street South, completely naked, according to RadioCanada sources.

"We get there, and they tell us to undress and run to the bar [La P'tite Grenouille]," said Julianne. "Those who had an X on their face, they could do it. It was like, 'If you're into games, do it!'"

For her, being naked in the heart of downtown Sher‐ brooke was the last straw.

"They were definitely pushing for it," she said. "There were a few who de‐ cided to do it, but for me, that's really where I decided that it was too much," she said.

Those who passed previ‐ ous tests were invited to take another one the next day. While the sun was barely up, participants were allegedly encouraged to drink large quantities of alcohol on cam‐ pus, according to our sources.

University launches in‐ vestigation

Jocelyne Faucher, vice-rec‐ tor and secretary general of Université de Sherbrooke, said the university has launched an investigation in‐ to the allegations.

"This is completely unac‐ ceptable," she said. "At no time does the university tol‐ erate such actions, violence, intimidation."

Initiation activities were organized by unofficial groups without the approval of the institution, Faucher said.

Radio-Canada contacted the people in charge of the initiation activities on multi‐ ple occasions, but they did not respond to requests for an interview.