Some continuing students at the University of Ghana (UG) have received notice that they must vacate their current hostels before school resumes, a directive that has left many unhappy.
Following the recurrent incidences of violence involving students, school authorities stated in a communiqué sent to students on December 14, 2022, that male residents of both Mensah Sarbah and Commonwealth halls at the University of Ghana will lose their residency for the 2022-23 academic year.
The school board is confident that the new housing arrangements will prevent violent incidents from happening again.
“Beginning from the 2022-2023 academic year, only Level 100 and graduate students (Master’s and PhD level) will be assigned to Mensah Sarbah and Commonwealth Halls. Subsequently, undergraduate students will vacate the halls at the end of Level 100 and may secure accommodation in the private hostels from Level 200 until completion,” the communiqué read.
The move has seen pushback from students, including a group of concerned students who call themselves “SARBANDALS”, a coalition of Vandals and Sarbah residents.
These students, in a rejoinder, described management’s decision as unjust and unfair, adding that innocent students are being made to pay for “the deeds of a few bad nuts.”
On their part, just before they could settle with the brunt of what they call an “astronomical percentage increment in academic and residential fees,” they now have to brace themselves for an “erroneous punishment by making all male residents in Mensah Sarbah Hall and Commonwealth Hall lose their beds.”
They charged management with conveniently denying their negligence and complicity in campus security problems that have repeatedly led to fights between the halls.
They complained that the August 5 Commonwealth-Sarbah clash lasted “for hours,” and this raises several questions, including “What happened to security and reinforcements to prevent or halt this clash?” “Apart from the people involved, how was the university protecting other students and property on campus during those hours?” But of course, the university management will not take responsibility easily.
In that regard, they requested the student body to “let us not budge. Let us not lose focus by following the bone and leaving our posts”.
In response, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs (ASA), Gordon Akanzuwine Awandare, said this is not a harsh measure being meted out to the affected students but is also part of measures to find lasting solutions and to subsequently implement the full in-out-out-out policy in other halls by 2025 or 2026.
“We needed to find a solution. And arrangements are part of the process of finding solutions. In addition, we are also looking forward to providing more opportunities for our first-year students to get accommodations on campus, and some come from very far away, this being their first time coming to the university.
“So this is not harsh; harsh would have been if we had closed down the two halls and sent them home, and we are sending them to places where other students are… Is it a punishment? He quizzed.
It will be recalled that on August 5, 2022, an interhall clash ensued between residents of Commonwealth and Sarbah halls, which led to the destruction of several properties and injuries to students.
The bust of John Mensah Sarbah Hall, situated in front of the Main Hall, is reported to have been destroyed and parts taken away by some Commonwealth Hall members.
This is one of the many clashes that have occurred between the two halls.
Several unions and associations, like the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), condemned the act and requested that perpetrators be brought to book.
Source: The Independent Ghana