HEC Montréal seizes a learning opportunity

September 16, 2011

The directors of the BBA Student Association and the HEC Montréal administration regret the offence that was caused at an on-campus sports event held this past Wednesday.  

During the Olympic Games themed event, designed to encourage physical activity and foster team spirit, a group of students decided to dress up and disguise themselves as Usain Bolt, a great athlete, world champion and role model for young people. Unfortunately, they unintentionally and unknowingly went about this in a way that touched upon some sensitivities.    

This incident does not reflect the values of HEC Montréal, its staff and its students and we consider it to be highly regrettable. The School sees this incident as revealing a lack of awareness toward certain global intercultural realities. For this reason, HEC Montréal has chosen to turn it into a learning opportunity.

The Association and HEC Montréal have jointly decided to offer the organizers of the different student activities a chance to participate in a training program on intercultural issues, as a way of ensuring that future student activities respect the different values of our increasingly multicultural world.

HEC Montréal, Université de Montréal’s affiliated management school, is proud to have students from one hundred or so different countries in its programs, covering all three cycles, some of them offered in several languages. It is also very proud of its openness to the world, which has earned it its reputation and its standing among the world’s leading business schools.