The start of the school year at the Toulouse School of Economics (TSE) was marked by a heated controversy following comments made by a teacher during a mathematics class. The incident led to the immediate suspension of the professor concerned.
According to information circulating on social media, Professor Benoît Huou allegedly made remarks described as an “anti-Israeli diatribe” in front of a lecture hall of 200 students. These statements allegedly included contested information on the number of victims in Gaza, calls for a boycott of Israel, as well as a speech deemed complacent towards the actions of Hamas.
Faced with the scale of the controversy, Christian Gollier, director of the TSE, reacted quickly by announcing on Twitter the precautionary suspension of the contract teacher. “Made in a professional context by a public official with no connection to the subject taught, these remarks contravene the obligation of reserve in force in the public service,” declared Mr. Gollier.
The decision comes at a particularly sensitive time in Toulouse, a city marked by the 2012 anti-Semitic attack on a Jewish school. Critics have stressed that such comments could endanger Jewish or Israeli students at the school. TSE management insists that the school aims to be “an open place for sharing knowledge in the social sciences.” Gollier said the case will be investigated in depth in the coming weeks, as part of the current disciplinary process. While some are calling for sanctions that could include dismissal, others are speaking out in defense of academic freedom. The outcome of this case could have significant implications for the future management of similar situations in French higher education institutions.
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