The Alumni Associations of Katanga and Unity Halls of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) have described the decision by management of the university to convert them into mixed halls as arbitrary and discriminatory.
The two associations accused the university authorities of deliberately converting the halls into mixed ones.
They indicated that they made suggestions to management of KNUST on how to address the accommodation problems facing students.
The associations, in a joint press statement, said they engaged an estate developer in the United States of America, as well as some architects to present some plans to management to solve the problems.
“But the management of the university did not budge, and this gives us cause to believe that the real intention of the management is not to increase the number of females on campus but to destroy the age-old tradition and brand of Katanga.”
As a result, the associations have vowed to petition President Akufo-Addo to intervene in the matter to ensure that the traditions of the two halls are safeguarded.
Speaking at a press conference jointly organized by the two associations on Tuesday in Accra, President of the Katanga Hall Alumni Association, Charles Dontoh, said that management of KNUST had dislodged all males from the main hall of Katanga with 198 rooms, leaving the annex with 96 rooms for them.
It would be recalled that management of KNUST introduced a policy to increase the number of female students studying science and technology by 40 percent by 2025.
To help achieve the target, management later converted the Katanga and Unity Halls into mixed halls to among other things accommodate female students on campus to protect them from rapists and other miscreants.”
The decision was also reportedly taken to curb student riots and vandalism on campus.
But the associations later filed a suit in a Kumasi court to try to prevent the management of KNUST from converting the halls.
Mr Dontoh stated that “We, indeed, have been pondering over how the KNUST management can increase the number of female students on campus without discriminating against the males, given that there have not been attempts to construct new halls of residence for the students.”
Mr. Dontoh added that “indeed, there is no gainsaying that changing the status of the halls has not solved any problem related to accommodation, as many students continue to rely on accommodation outside the campus.”
He observed that the number of females assigned to Katanga Hall is equal to that of males who would have been in the hall.
By Melvin Tarlue