•Nigerian tertiary institutions must get the reorientation of their students right
THE decision of the Delta State University (DELSU) to proscribe the wearing of mini-skirts and reduce the number of fellowships on its three campuses raises vital questions concerning scholarship and self-discipline on the one hand, and freedom of expression and association on the other.
On the face of it, there appears to be little controversy regarding the directive. University degrees are awarded for achievements in character as much as learning; it is difficult to see how wearing short skirts can contribute meaningfully to the attainment of either.
Nor does the uncontrolled proliferation of religious fellowships help to advance learning or improve character. Universities are not meant to function primarily as places of worship; indeed, their accepted status as places of learning, research and community service often come into conflict with the default conservatism of established religion.
DELSU’s clampdown is similar to others which have appeared in other tertiary institutions in Nigeria in the recent past. Higher education has been beset by rising levels of illicit behaviour, ubiquitous licentiousness, and growing religious bigotry and fanaticism. Cult-related criminal activity is a fact of life on several campuses. Many students undertake “runs,” namely the often-illegal and immoral activities through which they make money, facilitate the acquisition of good grades, and generally enhance their social status on campus.
The consequences have been devastating. Once a production-line for Nigeria’s best and brightest, Nigeria’s tertiary institutions are rapidly becoming a cesspool where hardened criminals, unrepentant cultists, and corrupt youth are incubated. They are routinely absent from global and continental league tables of top-performing schools. Their graduates are often regarded with widespread suspicion and consequently compelled to endure multiple testing and screening procedures before they can be considered fit for employment. The country’s educational inadequacies have enriched the tertiary institutions of other nations which regularly descend on Nigeria with expensive offers of qualitative education.
It is in response to this multifaceted crisis that many tertiary institutions have promulgated stricter regulations governing what students can wear, where they can go, and how they are to participate in extra-curricular activities. The thinking appears to be that if students are constantly reminded that self-discipline is the foundation of academic excellence, they will be less likely to engage in the sort of behaviour that has cost the nation so dear.
However, it must be remembered that tertiary institutions, by their very nature, grant students increased freedom of thought and action as young adults. Dictating what they can and cannot wear, and determining where they may worship would seem to circumscribe those freedoms. As a state-owned university, DELSU should not be in the business of determining skirt lengths, or giving preference to one denomination of Christianity over another. That would amount to propagating notions of intolerance that completely contradict ideals tertiary institutions are supposed to stand for.
The restriction of Christian worship to four denominations, for instance, would be difficult to justify. What determined the choice of one religious group over the others? Would the obvious bias inherent in such a decision not generate the very friction that it was designed to prevent?
DELSU and other tertiary institutions must seek to balance academic freedom with social responsibility. They can do this by engaging in dialogue with their students, as opposed to dictating to them. It is essential that the students understand why these measures are being taken; if they feel that they are just an attempt to intimidate and harass them, they will resist with a stubbornness and creativity that will ultimately frustrate such measures.
Students should be made to understand that the enhanced freedoms that they enjoy are not a licence to indulge in criminal behaviour, religious bigotry, or fashion choices that are clearly not in consonance with their primary role as students.
