The students of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife are outraged over the institution's management plan to impose dress codes on them.
The OAU Management had in a recent release titled "REVIEW OF THE CODE OF CONDUCT FOR THE UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY AND OTHER POLICIES IN THE UNIVERSITY", spelt out acceptable dress codes for the students of the institution, citing increasing rate of indecent dressing and sexual harassment on campus.
The institution in the release also attached sanctions for violation of any of the regulated dressing patterns.
The development has however sparked up reactions from the students community as they kick against the management decision.
The students in a statement issued on Sunday by its leadership, the Great Ife Students Union through the Office of the PRO, Omisore Elijah H20, frowned at the new regulations.
They described the plan as unacceptable in the modern dispensation, adding that it will only constitute an infringement on their fundamental right.
Parts of the statement read "As a Union, we differ with the plan of the management to regulate student's mode of dressing which is a violation of their right to freedom of expresion as guaranteed in all known Laws.
"We must state unequivocally that the University camnpus is not a prison and that the use of unifon is really backward and archaic as it does not in any way contribute to the learning process.
"In clear tems, dictating how students should dress is simply an attempt to enslave them and we are not in support of such"
The students maintained that their dressing mode does not impact the greatness of the institution or constitute a threat to the University community.
They urge the management to rather look inward and pay more attention to enforcing the institution's ati-sexual harassment policies as a way to curb the trends.
"Students mode of dressing does not in any way constitute any threat to the University community and it does not lessen the greatness of the University.
"We expect that with the happenings in our ivory towers, the management of OAU will be compelled to provide safe learning environment by preventing sexual harassment by enforcing anti-sexual harassment policies.", the statement added.
Cases of sexual harassment of students on OAU campus by lecturers were frequent in the recent past. A situation that led the University to come up with the anti-sexual harassment policies aimed at curbing the menace.
The motto of the institution is "For Learning and Culture".
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