Statistics Lecturer Canes Students in Class

    While media reports have linked the disturbances to the decision of the university to convert the male halls into mixed halls, the students have said the Monday protest was about a culture of oppression.   
The concerned fellows of Kantanga Hall criticised the University for shaming and sanctioning four female students for accommodating males in their rooms at odd hours.
    The university has been on a collision course with students following attempts to halt and ban ‘jama sessions’ on campus – a more than 50-year-old practice popularly called ‘morale’.
    Some believe the caning was light-hearted and jovial,But the students who are former residents of Katanga Hall maintain, the practice of caning is well known and ‘not surprising’.
    A student has said duly elected hall executives not favourable to school authorities were removed from office and replaced by first-year students.
    The students say as important stakeholders in the second largest university in Ghana, their views are not taken into consideration by the university authorities led by Vice-Chancellor Prof.
    KNUST students have alleged, school authorities threaten to revoke accomodation status of students or withold their results as a way of punishing dissent.
    The students recalled, all males within a block at Katanga Hall were once ordered onto a pitch and directed to kneel in the rain.
    It was punishment for singing ‘ jama’ songs and allowing ‘infiltration’ by continuing students who do not reside on the main campus, the statement further alleges.