Old Vandals issue one-week ultimatum for UG to rescind ejection order

The Old Vandals Association has expressed its displeasure over the decision by the management of the University of Ghana (UG) to eject continuing students from Commonwealth and Mensah Sarbah Halls.

The old vandals who massed up on campus Tuesday morning threatened to explore other alternatives to force the hand of the university council to rescind their decision.

They subsequently gave management a week to resolve the issue.

Also, they want management to release their report on an investigation conducted on clashes between the two male halls last year.

The protest comes after the university revoked the tenancy of continuing students from the two halls as a punitive measure after clashes between some students of the two halls that led to the destruction of the bust of John Mensah Sarbah.

“All continuing students of the Commonwealth Hall, an all-male hall of residence, and continuing male students of Mensah Sarbah Hall will not return to their halls nor to any of the traditional halls.

“They are to be randomly assigned to available rooms in any of the UGEL and private hostels,” a communique on December 14 by UG said.

But the old vandals who expressed solidarity with the affected students said the decision was ill-intended and posed financial challenges to the affected students.

They are convinced this is the latest attempt by the school’s management to weaken student activism on campus while creating a rift between freshers and continuing students.

Management has, however, maintained its position on the matter.

“I’m not sure in which world that former Vandals want to run a university. The university is run by the university council. Former vandals are not part of the running of the university.

“We don’t owe them any report. This is not how to ask for documents from the university. To incite students to demonstrate. Please, they should do better than that,” the Pro Vice Chancellor of the university, Prof. Gordon Awandare, said.