Florence Obi, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calabar, says students should be smart and provide evidence of lecturers demanding sex for grades to the university authority.

Ms Obi made the call on Monday in Calabar.

The vice-chancellor stated that her administration would not condone sexual harassment.

“For us as management, we are sensitising the students about sex for grades. Let them be bold to talk about it. They own their body. Nobody has right over their body,” explained Ms Obi. “Nobody has the right to tell them that ‘if I don’t have your body, you can’t attend lecture or you will fail my course’.”

According to the VC, the university has a centre for gender development, “and I can tell you that the students themselves have been doing the awareness on campus because of the sensitisation we have given to them.”

She added that during the orientation programme for freshers, “I told the newly admitted students to speak out whenever they encounter such demands from lecturers.”

The VC charged the students to be smart and have evidence of such threats and demands from lecturers.

“Parents can’t afford to send their children to school for some lecturers to start harassing them and spoiling their future. Because today, we have students who are 14 and 15 years in school,” explained Ms Obi. “Some of these lecturers are old enough to be the grandparent of these children they harass. So, the fight against sex for grades must be fought holistically.”

Ms Obi added that “these men who are doing these things are so protective of their own children back home.”

(NAN)