Following the sexual harassment that has plagued the school, Babcock University management, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, has stated that it has taken measures to end the act in the school.
This was made known by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof Sunday Owolabi, to journalists on the maiden Stakeholders Conference recently held in the Federal capital territory, Abuja.
He said, “Let me correct one thing. Sexual harassment is decreasing, not increasing. Babcock University has been able to curtail it because we communicate regularly with our students. If anything happens, we would have handled it before it gets to the point where students report it.”
Recall that the school expelled a female undergraduate who was involved in a sex scandal recently but ensured that the school will welcome her if she “chooses to come back in the future.”
He added, “Babcock University has a lot of control measures. Most of our classrooms are glass buildings. The offices are partitioned with glass, not blocks. So you cannot be rough-handling any girl in your office without the person in the next office seeing you. Those are control measures.
“We have made a law that prohibits students from visiting lecturers beyond five o’clock in the evening. Students have the telephone numbers of many security officers in the university. There are more than 50 phone numbers at their disposal, which they can call, text and be assured that they are going to be protected.
“If it is an issue that is not beyond caution, we caution immediately. If the issue requires the attention of the disciplinary committee, we shall send the person there. We have had issues with sexual harassment in the past, but we were able to handle them before they got out of hand.
“Our students have the freedom to talk to us at the administrative level at any time. All the students in Babcock have the Vice-Chancellor’s phone number. They have mine, too. They also have access to presiding officers, women counsellors, even the hostel caretakers. So they should be encouraged to speak up if sexually harassed before it gets to the level of result manipulation and the rest.”
