SCORES of students at the Catholic University of Zimbabwe (CUZ) staged a demonstration at the institution’s Bulawayo campus on Thursday in protest, accusing the college administration of failing to rein in lecturers fingered in demanding sexual favours from female students in return for marks.
BY SHARON SIBINDI
The demonstration, which started early in the morning, saw the university temporarily shut down and students putting a placard with their petition at the gate.
When NewsDay Weekender arrived at the campus, some students and lecturers had parked their cars outside the university gate while the others were milling around with riot police roaming the university premises.
The institution’s Students Representative Council (SRC) handed over a petition to the university authorities outlining their grievances.
“Female students are complaining of sexual harassment from lecturers and also there is victimisation of students by some lecturers. If we complain, they say we will fail,” the petition read in part.
CUZ spokesperson Monica Mureriwa, told NewsDay Weekender that they have instituted investigations into the matter.
“We have also held a series of meetings this morning (Thursday) with our students as they are our primary focus. We will continue engaging the students until we fully resolve these issues. The Catholic University of Zimbabwe is guided by key values that are ethical behaviour, collegiality, commitment, service and excellence. Ethical behaviour is our key value. We believe in doing the right thing.”
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“The claims of sexual harassment are of major concern to us. They indicate an inconsistency with our key value of ethical behaviour, and the university will not hesitate to take appropriate action where this value is undermined.”
