[ 2017-03-09 ]

Sexual harassment and misconduct on campus has become a growing trend

Publish names of sexually abusive lecturers – UG students demand
Some female students of the University of Ghana,
led by the Women Commission of the school’s
Representative Council (SRC), is proposing that
authorities of the school publish on its website
and in the dailies, the full details male
lecturers who sexually abuse female students.

According to them, sexual harassment and
misconduct on campus has become a growing trend,
but students do not report such cases for fear of
victimization.

At the ‘Speak Up Conference’ organized by the
Commission on International Women’s Day,
students who have been sexually abused by
lecturers shared their sad stories.

Sexually exploitative behaviour, conferring undue
favours to influence subordinate staff or students
to yield to sexual desires and amorous behaviour
between students and teaching staff, are some of
the sexual misconducts that the statutes of the
University frowns upon.

But Yaa Gyamfua, an executive of the SRC Women’s
Commission, believes these rules are often flouted
by the very people trusted to uphold it, including
the lecturers.

As a result, she said most victims for fear of
being victimized, do not report such cases.

“What abuse takes away from you is your dignity;
so then you don’t even have much of it left to
be going around talking about it in the first
place. That accounts for a lot of the reasons why
you don’t hear about it (sexual abuse). But
truly it happens, a lot of it happens” she
stated.

According to her, “For a number of ladies who
have approached us, it’s mostly between
authorities and students.” Touching on some
other cases of abuse on campus, Gyamfua recalled
that “somewhere last semester, someone was raped
in between the annexes of Sarbah (Mensah Sarbah
Hall) one night when she went to study.

Another happened at Athletics Oval some time ago.
We just woke up and saw that her clothes had been
torn and her panties were left there. I don’t
think the girl as at now has been able to show up
and report.”

The Chairperson of the Anti-Sexual Harassment
Committee of the University, Prof. Abena Oduro,
gave the assurance that female students at the
Conference that the University had demoted some
lecturers for sexually abusing female students in
the past; and will crack the whip on deviant
lecturers found culpable.

But the Commission is not satisfied by this
assurance.

Yaa Gyamfua insists that publishing the full
details of deviant lecturers will be deterrent
enough to their colleagues in the act.

“When you choose to abuse someone and take away
the person’s dignity, then you don’t get to
keep yours. So, as and when it happens, I think
that we should be able to hear of it. If possible
it should be published on the University’s
website which will be more shameful, the dailies,
as well as the notice boards.”

“We need to know who the perpetrators are. They
don’t do it with just one of two people; it’s
done to a number of girls. So the publicity alone
gives closure to the other girls who are involved
perhaps with the same lecturer. Closure in abuse
is important for the person to heal. The
University should be able to tell us how many
lecturers are laid off as and when these things
happen. So that we can reduce the rate at which
these things happen. I am telling you on authority
that it happens almost every day.”

But a final year Political Science major student
(name withheld) disagrees with the call. For her,
demotion is enough as she fears the stigma
affected lecturers will suffer.

“First of all, they wouldn’t be happy if they
are demoted. And secondly, I don’t think their
details should be put out there because it remains
forever. People will get to see it, their
children, forever! And it will be out there for
everyone and generations to come. I am not sure it
will go away. It will be like some kind of stigma
not forgetting that the girls could suffer some
kind of psychological effects from the harassments
they get from these lecturers. But I don’t think
that is the right thing to do. Demotion is just
perfect, but putting their names out there for me
is too much.”

Even though she told Citi News a lecturer at her
department has been on her heels since her level
100 days for an amorous relationship, she believes
most female students only cry foul after such
amorous relationships with their lecturers turn
sour, arguing that no lecturer will ever fail any
student for denying him sexual gratification.

“If you had no relationship whatsoever with the
lecturer and he just comes after you for the first
time, you are in the best position to tell him off
and nothing is going to happen to you. But the
problem is some of the time if not most of the
times, you’d find out that the students could
have had some amorous relationships with their
lecturers; and when things go sour, they come out
to say a lecturer harassed them.”

Source - citifmonline.com

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