According to several participating students in this year's BME VIK freshman camp, they were treated cruelly and humiliatingly. Even before its start, the freshman camp caused a lot of outrage among people because it was forbidden for students to bring condoms with them. The Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) has now created a working group and is revising its freshman camp regulations, the higher education institution told MTI.

"BME's duty is not only to educate students and put them on a professional path, but also to protect their safety under all circumstances. This goal particularly applies to freshman camps," they say in the statement.

For this purpose, the policy was drawn up several years ago, using experience gained in other freshman camps, on the basis of which the camps were organized this year as well.

The University of Applied Sciences, with the participation of the university administration and student representatives, has set up a working group which will launch an investigation into the freshman camps, review the existing regulations, and the

 based on experiences and challenges, creates rules that provide comfort, safety and dignity for everyone

- they emphasize in the summary.

According to press reports, the prospective first-year students were treated in a humiliating manner at the Bodajki freshman camp of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology of the BME between August 14 and 17.

According to the reports of the participating students, the boys and girls could only spend a few minutes in the shower, the organizers measured the time with a stopwatch. In addition, they could go to the toilet three times a day for just 1 minute. Upon arrival, all the bags were unpacked and each of your clothes was shaken out: t-shirt, pants, underpants, panties, bra, and even your socks. (If you were lucky, you could shake it, or if you weren't, one of the seniors). Food (sandwiches, coffee) had to be thrown away, medicine was confiscated (including painkillers). You had to ask for it in the evening if you needed it. Everyone is required to have a physical examination, which was carried out by the security service. On the first day, we only got food late at night"

- wrote one of the students in his report, which was written by Origo

It also turned out that the rooms were shared, 1-2 girls slept together with 13 boys. In each room, two upperclassmen slept on the floor so that they could not even go to the bathroom.

As one student described, there were separate rules for showering and using the toilet.

There were 3 bathroom breaks per day, which were 1 minute long. The seniors yelled at them to hurry because the next group was coming. Boys had 2 minutes to bathe, girls 5 minutes. This included everything from brushing their teeth to getting dressed and timing them with a stopwatch.

"They kept hitting the wall and the shower stalls with a red baseball bat, screaming for us to hurry up, everyone is waiting for us. It was forbidden to take a shower, you didn't even have a chance, they always beat the cubicle door," wrote one freshman.

Because of the humiliating treatment, several students went home before the end of the camp.

Cover image: Illustration / Photo: MTI/Péter Komka

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