OAU Stipulates Students Dress Code, SU Fights Back

The University of Ife also known as the Obafemi Awolowo University has joined the list of government-owned tertiary institutions, updating their codes of conduct to include a strict dress code, whose violation is punishable under the university constitution.

The university released an internal memo with a list of offences and punishments side by side.

The student union of the university, one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the country, in response, sent out a memo, titled “Review Of The Code Of Conduct For The University Community And Other Policies In The University”, castigating the universities decision.

The document read in part,

“As a union, we differ with the plan of management to regulate students’ mode of dressing which is a violation of their right to freedom of expression as guaranteed in all known laws. we must state unequivocally that the university campus is not a prison and that the use of uniforms is really backward and archaic as it does not in any way contribute to the learning process.

‘”OAU as an institution has grown to become a model of law and orderliness amongst the comity of higher institutions in the country…it is, therefore, a deviation of what OAU is known with and stands for to start regulating the dressing pattern of students.

The union went further to say that “In clear terms, dictating how students should dress is simply an attempt to enslave them and we are not in support of such. Students’ mode of dressing does not in any way constitute any threat to the university community and does not lessen the greatness of the university. We find it embarrassing and an attempt to justify the sexual harassment students face at the hands of paedophile lecturers by categorizing wears as being “provocative”.

“We expect that with the happenings in our ivory towers, the management of OAU will be compelled to provide a safe learning environment by preventing sexual harassment by enforcing anti-sexual harassment policies.”