UTAG Accuse JAK Of Interfering With Academic Affairs

The University of Cape Coast Branch of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) has expressed reservations at the what it terms the interference in the affairs of the university by President Kufuor. The UTAG branch referred to the decision to pardon nine students who were rusticated for flouting the University’s rules following a plea by the President, noting that the Academic board was compelled to take the decision out of respect for the President.

The lecturers say they are not happy that the university’s rules have been bent to grant a reprieve to the students because of the President's intervention. The students were rusticated while the results of others were withheld for a number of years for their unruly behaviour during the last congregation of the University. They were demonstrating against the school’s academic grading system, which they considered unfair.

A statement issued in Cape Coast noted that the President’s plea for the students to be pardoned undermined Academic freedom, which is an integral part of the current democratic dispensation.

The UTAG members emphasised that the Academic Board were right in punishing the affected students, adding that the Board has always been guided by the statues and rules of the University in the performance of its duties, specifically relating to setting academic standards and enforcing general discipline on campus.

The statement asked the office of the President to show confidence in the University’s ability to manage its own internal affairs along lines clearly laid down in statutes.