Sunyani (B/A), April 5, GNA - The entire student body and the Students Representative Council (SRC) of the Catholic University College of Ghana (CUCG), Fiapre in Sunyani have expressed shock and disappointment about the establishment of a satellite campus of the university in Accra. They have also expressed worry about the fate of the young institution and the entire student body.
Consequently, they have decided to break protocol and seek redress from the highest authority of the university, Peter Cardinal Appiah-Turkson, Chancellor, by the close of the week and expressed the hope to receive a positive response.
Mr. Emmanuel Taa-Amoako, SRC president, briefing newsmen at a press conference challenged the Catholic Bishop's Conference to justify the establishment of the satellite campus 93as they seem not to consider the current conditions of the present students before embarking on developing a satellite campus".
He pointed out that due recognition was not given them as they were not informed of the decision to establish a satellite campus and only read about it in the media, which he said was 93totally unfair".
"The conditions on campus are very challenging and we have not felt comfortable from the onset but determined as we are, we have decided to surge through, but we now believe we are being taken for a ride", the SRC President added.
Mr. Taa-Amoako stressed that the SRC would not support the quest by the Bishops Conference for the satellite campus and would take drastic action against them (Conference) if tangible reasons were not given and if conditions on the university campus were not immediately improved.
"The present crop of students have taken pains to endure the challenges no matter what, as pioneers, to help the dream of the Bishops Conference come true, with the establishment of the Catholic University and the Conference's decision could be seen as a stab in the back".
The SRC President said the student body considered the satellite campus irrelevant now and called for an immediate halt, adding, the current campus had failed to develop in terms of enrolment as a result of lack of infrastructure and so raising funds elsewhere to develop a satellite campus was questionable.
Mrs. Vida Koran, a Lecturer at the university appealed to the Bishops Conference to reconsider their decision and concentrate on developing infrastructure at the main campus to avoid putting the future of the current students in jeopardy.
She noted that some of the academic staff held several meetings with a section of the Bishops on the decision but nothing concrete came out of such meetings, adding that the authority at campus had totally been disregarded.
Mrs. Koran explained that the university authorities and the students were not condemning the establishment of the satellite campus, 93but the timing is wrong as the over 27,000 dollars being paid a month for the rented campus could be channeled to better conditions at the main campus".
