OAU Dress Code; A Violation of the Rights to Freedom of Expression
By WSYN Secretariat
The recent revision of the University Students’ handbook to include a set of nauseating dress codes for students on campus is nothing but a show of shame and a mockery of our collective intelligence. One would expect that a top-tier institution like the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, will be at the forefront of campaigning for the protection of the rights of students to freedom of expression. Sadly, the dons of the university believe that the introduction of extreme sanctions on frivolous dress codes is the ultimate solution to achieving decency and preventing sexual harassment on campus.
It is so unfortunate that despite all of the issues facing the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, all the university governing council could think of is how to further pile more anti-students’ policies on students in the form of rustication for violating sections of the university dress code. This long list of dress code misconducts that attracts rustication for one semester includes; rumpled and dirty clothes, heavy makeup, off-shoulder clothes, hair braiding for male students, use of nose/mouth/eye rings, tattoos and indelible markings, multi-coloured braid for female students and so on. Other dress code misconducts that attracted rustication for 2 years include coloured hairstyle, spangled hairstyle for males, massaging/sitting on the lap of by opposite sex and unwelcomed touching, kissing and hugging by the opposite sex.
This list of misconducts, sadly puts the freedom, rights, and liberty of students under a serious threat. It could not only mean that the university will start to intrude on the privacy of the students but also that it could be a tool by members of the university government body to victimize targeted students as most of the items on the list are not quantifiable. In the same vein, we believe that students should have the freedom to express themselves, especially within the constraints of their finances.
We also hold that dressing is not a cause for sexual harassment. The previous incidences and events make a mockery of this. As we have seen in recent years, even young female children as young as 12 were been sexually harassed and molested. Even, Muslim female students who are fully dressed in their hijab regalia are being sexually harassed and intimidated. These are pieces of evidence that sexual harassment and molestation are beyond the dress code but an act of society that places some persons above others.
Similarly, we believe that with the level of exposure of the university to 21st-century institutions around the world, the issue of dress code shouldn’t have entered the agenda of the university. With the enormous issues on ground, ranging from poor funding of public education, continuous dilapidation of learning facilities, incessant rise in accommodation fees and insecurity off campus, and insufficient hostel facilities, it is very sad that all the university governing body could think of is the introduction of dress codes.
We welcome and salute the doggedness of the university students union and parliament who immediately distanced themselves from the decision of the university management to regulate the dressing of the students. We agree with the Great Ife Students Union that “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 also find it “embarrassing” that such deductions will be made by the university management. As stated by the LordFem’s led Students’ Union, we hold the strong view that restricting students’ freedom will only make the university campus notoriously unsafe and hostile.