Dress Code: OAU Will Not Violate Students’ Rights, Says Management

The management of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, has cleared the air on a trending circular announcing a dress code purportedly for students of the university.

The Public Relations Officer of the university, Abiodun Olarewaju, in an interview with our correspondent on Monday said the trending circular was not from the management of the university.

Olarewaju, however, sai that even though the management was considering the decision, it would not in any way violate the rights of the students.

In the circular that trended, rustication for one semester was highlighted as punishment for students that committed misconducts such as putting on “sexually provocative dresses, backless clothes, transparent wears, off-shoulder clothes, bomb shorts’, among others.

Other misconduct contained in the circular included “unwelcome touching, kissing, and hugging of the opposite sex, massaging or sitting on the laps by the opposite sex,” all liable to rustication for two semesters.

Male students were also warned against “Hair braiding or weaving,” among others.

Olarewaju said: “It (the circular) is not from the university administration. Although we’re working on our own, I think those who brought that out are just being mischievous. Maybe they’re trying to gauge the minds of the people and the students, but definitely, this is a university and we cannot accept any kind of dress, we have decency.”

Reiterating that the university was considering a dress code policy, the school PRO said, “Of course, we’re on that. We want to be sure we are not stepping on toes. In as much as we believe that our graduates must be found worthy in learning and character, we also want a situation where we will not infringe on their fundamental human rights.”

The students’ union leadership of the university had in a statement on Sunday kicked against the proposal of dress code for the students.

“We must state unequivocally that the university campus is not a prison and that the use of uniform is really backward and archaic as it does not in any way contribute to the learning process,” the statement jointly signed by the President, Secretary-General and the PRO of the union, Abbas Ojo, Opeyemi Akinboni and Omisore Elijah, respectively, partly read.

Source: The Punch