The rector's team of the University of La Rioja is meeting to determine what measures can be adopted regarding Primary Education students, members of a WhatsApp group, in which sexist and homophobic comments have been made, as Cadena Ser has uncovered. The new university students are defined as "very whores", "hotties", "goat cheeses".
The Magis Primaria Hazing group is made up of 1st and 2nd year Primary Education students (between 18 and 19 years old) and has 200 participants, of whom a minority have commented, but there has only been one dissenting voice.
"You have to break their panties" or "Lately, they're all very whores," are some of the comments in the chat, which also includes photos of the girls who are joining the university this year, the alleged object of the hazing, captured of social networks in order to assess their physique. "But what girls are coming in?" asks one. "I hope you're hot," answers another. "This is fucking goat cheese from the ciborium," says another student. "Another one that's like fucking babybel cheese."
As more images are uploaded, the future teachers raise the tone of the comments. "What a fucking butter," "Look how the one on the left is," they respond to another of the images.
Among the group participants there are also girls who have not spoken out. Only one student has rejected these messages with the comment "You are disgusting HAHAHA".
There have also been homophobic comments. A video of a student has been uploaded and two men comment on it: "Tell him that they don't accept sissies in teaching" and "this guy is promising."
The University of La Rioja does not allow hazing on campus and, according to its student disciplinary regulations, these humiliating acts or behaviors are considered very serious offenses. Precisely, in February 2022, the University Coexistence Law was approved, by which each campus designed its own coexistence rules and sanctioning regime, incorporating response mechanisms against violence, discrimination or harassment.
The vice-rector for the student body of the University of La Rioja, Mª Ángeles Martínez, has lamented the facts in an interview with Cadena Ser, which she has attributed to the climate of general machismo in society that education cannot reverse, with the example of the songs that youth listen to.
Also the president of the Student Council of this campus, Ramón Sánchez, has condemned this type of messages, stating that "giving this image seems quite regrettable to me", since "this type of attitude is not what future professors should have."
Last year, the sexist cries of young people from the Elías Ahuja College - attached to the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) - in Madrid made their way to the media, harassing their neighbors shouting "whores, you're all going to fuck" .
The girls were at the Colegio Mayor Santa Mónica very close to the men's school.
As on this occasion, the images quickly went viral on social networks and showed how dozens of students carried out a performance insulting and threatening the students of the nearby school with sexist chants.
As a result of the events, the students were temporarily expelled and a new disciplinary regulation was established. The assembly of deans of the Complutense unanimously approved a manifesto against hazing. And in this course, very serious offenses due to hazing derived from the University Coexistence Law have been incorporated into the internal regulations.
A new telephone line has been opened to facilitate the reporting of abusive behavior and a mentoring program has been established to accompany new students. All this is part of the "a new September" campaign presented by the UCM and the Association of Residence Halls of Madrid.
