How to create cohesion among millenial students?

Throwback to the pleasant years when you were a first year student, at the same time thrilled to discover the mysterious, yet enticing “university life”, and a bit afraid that you wouldn’t fit in, that you weren’t ready. 

Once I told my parents I wanted to go to the “integration week end” of my university. At dinner, they would talk with nostalgia about the time when, in the late 80’s in USSR, they’d go with the whole class to the woods, only equipped with a guitar and sleeping bags, in the pursuit of their first student memories. They’d work together on kolkhozes the whole day, then dance in the “common house” till the following morning, building cohesion and affection through common activities, late night conversations and youthful carelessness.

After having experienced my integration week end – that has fortunately nothing to do with kolkhozes – I must confess, these times were over. Cohesion and affection seem to be difficult to create. Is it the digital era? Or the result of an individualistic society that has forgotten how to entertain itself? The only thing that is certain is that the romantic side is gone. 

Though the feeling of excitement is still present, now student entertainment has become more of a business. A “project” that has to be managed by various economic actors on an extra scale. Integration of students has become a revolutionary concept serving a flourishing market: several companies compete, providing logistical services, camping sites, entertainment devices, or food packs to students. 

So basically you end up paying 190 euros for 3 days. Three unforgettable (or wanting to be forgotten?) days, where you experience an artificial feeling of integration through alcohol and humiliation games. Indeed, in some universities, hazing has become almost a ritual. A tradition meant to be perpetuated from one generation to the other, in a spirit of “revenge” for the new arriving students. A will to challenge them, to scare them just as you have been scared. It is, after all, one of human’s primal instincts: exercise power on the weakest. 

For you know they have no choice but to obey. This group pressure doesn’t only make you cruel, vicious, losing your sense of empathy to “test the limits” of the new ones, but when you’re on the other side, it prevents you from rebelling – as you’re reassured by the fact that all your “comrades” are in the same hopeless situation. United in suffering, that’s what it’s about. 

Worst cases with bullying happen with students in engineering or medicine, explains Julien, co-founder of WeiAndGo – a company specialized in the organization of integration week ends (in French "WEI"). The interactive movie WEI or Die, released in 2015, triggered again the controversy around this topic everyone intimately knows about but is afraid to mention aloud. Because after all, it sounds like a leitmotiv during the entire week end: “What happens at the WEI, stays at the WEI”. A reason, an excuse even, that can justify the most unimaginable abuses. 

As a student, I could really see there was a form of “taboo” over the widespread phenomenon of hazing. Besides, the image and reputation of the university are often being confused the actions its Student’s office commits. Therefore, the administration doesn’t hesitate to take action in case an abuse is revealed or suspected, by punishing members of the Student’s Office.  

But first, let’s see how it is organized. In most universities in France, you have a so-called “Student Union Office”. It is a group of 10 to 20 people, elected by all the students on the campus, and proposing events for the rest of the students. It is divided into sections (afterworks, trips, sports…) and I happen to be in charge of the Sports section this year. 

Being a member of the Office is considered as a sign of popularity on the campus: you are in charge of keeping a friendly atmosphere between students, and of the organizing the WEI. The members of the Office sign a contract with one of the aforementioned companies (such as Wei and Go), and they make you an estimate for a certain amount of services offered. Basically, you transfer the organization of your trip to the Office, that, in its turn, transfers it to the company, pursue a logic of profit. 

Who is responsible if something unexpected happens? The company can only suggest to pay a supplementary security service, but it remains the prerogative of the members of the Office to watch out for everyone. Lack of regulations or binding principles seems to be the major problem in this whole affair. 

And parents in all this? Their opinion isn’t really taken into account. Though there’s a message addressed to them before the WEI, and some Student Offices even conduct prevention campaigns on the potential risks, the dialog with parents always happens through the Office, and not with the organizing companies, responsible in the first place. 

In terms of legislation, the framework is however quite strict: if it is proven that a student took part in hazing, his criminal liability will be incurred, and he will be charged with a 75000 euros fine and 6 months of prison. Besides, the “Comité contre le bizutage” (Commitee against hazing)  leads concrete action to avoid abuses linked to hazing. Yet, every year, the month of September is associated with tragic deaths of students – as it happened in 2017, when a drunk boy was found dead in a lake, alone. 

So yes, if we compare it to the 80’s, I believe the romantic side of “integration” and “making new friends” is definitely gone. What remains is a bitter feeling of regret and humiliation, some memories you will be too ashamed to mention, but not too eager to forget.