Charles Igwe, the vice-chancellor of the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), says the institution has zero tolerance for sexual harassment and other social vices, threatening to punish students for seducing lecturers and offering sex for marks.

He warned students against deliberately seducing lecturers or offering sex in exchange for marks.

“The university will not hesitate to punish any student found guilty of deliberately trying to seduce or offer sex for marks to lecturers,” he said.

The vice-chancellor said the university would not relent in maintaining gender equality and a safe learning environment devoid of sexual harassment.

“Sexual harassment is a cankerworm which everyone should join hands to eliminate. UNN, under my administration, has zero tolerance for any form of sexual harassment of any student or staff. We have gender-friendly centres in the university that handle reports on sexual harassment issues and other societal ills; the centres also give counselling,” the UNN boss stated.

The vice-chancellor said this in Nsukka on Wednesday at the university’s first ‘International Conference on Gender and Sexual Harassment’, organised by the Campus-Campaign Against Sexual Harassment (C-CASH).

The programme was in collaboration with UNN Gender and Development Policy Centre (GDPC) and the Centre for Public Health (CPH).

Mr Igwe added, “I encourage students and staff to take advantage of the centres and report any staff or student who harasses them sexually, especially a lecturer who demands sex for exam marks.”

GDPC director Anthonia Achike said the conference aimed to fashion out ways to reduce sexual harassment in tertiary institutions in the country.

Ms Achike said the conference used a trans-disciplinary methodology in which opinions from different areas and practices were used to solve “this act of inhumanity.”

The director attributed low reporting of sexual harassment cases by victims to fear of victimisation, stigmatisation, and doubt of getting redress promptly.

“The above-mentioned reasons are responsible for underreporting of sexual harassment cases by victims because they believe that some who reported their own didn’t get justice as many perpetrators were not punished,” explained Ms Achike.

C-CASH convener Ikechukwu Erojikwe said the conference was a three-university collaborative project between Michigan State University US, Pretoria University, South Africa, and the UNN.

Mr Erojikwe, a senior lecturer at the Department of Theater Arts, UNN, said the aim was to find ways of reducing the rising cases of sexual harassment in higher institutions.

“The conference is expected to find ways, means and approaches that will bring solutions to this ugly societal ill. Participants and resource persons were drawn from universities within the country and outside,” stated Mr Erojikwe.

(NAN)