“Like a little monkey”: a teacher suspended in Val-d’Oise after racist remarks towards a black student

The CY Cergy Paris University confirmed on Tuesday November 10 that it had suspended from her duties a teacher who made “racist remarks against a student” who participated in the blockade of an IUT at the end of October in Val-d'Oise. “We confirm that the teacher concerned has been suspended,” indicated the establishment's communications department, as revealed Tuesday by the newspaper Le Parisien.

The facts date back to the end of October. In a very short video with blurry images posted on social networks, we hear a young man say “we are neglected” and a woman respond to him “stop talking like a little monkey, there”. She is immediately interrupted by “no, no, no” of protest. In a press release posted Monday on LinkedIn, the university said it was informed on October 22 of “racist comments made by a teacher against a student, as part of a mobilization on the Neuville site.”

A complaint was filed by the student

The same day, “the president of the university received the student concerned” and the disciplinary section was contacted, she said in this press release. According to Le Parisien, the 20-year-old young man - a second year undergraduate student - filed a complaint for racist insult. Condemning “with the greatest firmness all forms of racism”, the university insists: “no context of tension can justify such comments, contrary to the values ​​and principles of our establishment”. She also specifies that she has made a report to the public prosecutor under article 40.

“I fully support the decision of CY Cergy Paris University, which suspended the teacher, referred the matter to the disciplinary section and reported the facts to the courts. Racism has no place at university,” Minister Édouard Geffray responded to AFP. This university, located mainly in Cergy-Pontoise and its surroundings, has more than 25,000 students.