Continuing students will not return to Mensah Sarbah and Commonwealth hall

Continuing students will not return to Mensah Sarbah and Commonwealth hall

The University Council has announced that continuing students will not return to Mensah Sarbah Hall and Commonwealth hall. They have decided that all the rooms in these two halls will be reserved for the freshers. They added that continuing students in the Mensah Sarbah Hall and Commonwealth Halls will be re-allocated to the UGEL and private hostels.

This decision is an intervention to prevent the recurrence of the violent Mensah Sarbah-Commonwealth Hall clash.

“All continuing students of Commonwealth Hall and continuing male students of Mensah Sarbah Hall will not return to these halls, or to any of the traditional halls. They are to be randomly assigned to available rooms in any of the UGEL and private hostels. Continuing female students of Mensah Sarbah Hall and students with special needs in both halls will not be affected by this measure.”

Continuing students will not return to Mensah Sarbah and Commonwealth hall

Read the full release.

The University Council has deliberated on recommendations from the Residence Board and the Academic Board regarding changes to student residence arrangements. These changes were requested by Council following repeated incidences of violence involving students.

Council approved the following measures to take effect from the start of the 2022/2023 academic year, which are to prevent future occurrences of violence:

• All continuing students of Commonwealth Hall and continuing male students of Mensah Sarbah Hall will not return to these halls, or to any of the traditional halls. They are to be randomly assigned to available rooms in any of the UGEL and private hostels. Continuing female students of Mensah Sarbah Hall and students with special needs in both halls will not be affected by this measure.

• Beginning from the 2022/2023 academic year, only Level 100 and graduate students (Masters and Ph.D. level) will be assigned to Mensah Sarbah and Commonwealth Halls. Subsequently, undergraduate students will vacate the halls at the end of Level 100 and may secure accommodation in the private hostels from Level 200 until completion.

• Level 100 students who opt for traditional halls will be randomly assigned to the halls.

Continuing students will not return to Mensah Sarbah and Commonwealth hall

• Progressively, all the traditional halls (Mensah Sarbah, Commonwealth, Volta, Legon and Akuafo halls) will be reserved for Level 100 and graduate students only, culminating into a full in-out-out-out policy by 2025/2026.

Additionally, the University is installing CCTV cameras and Electronic Access control systems in all halls to improve security.

All students are to take note of these arrangements. Further details on these will be announced before the beginning of the 2022/2023 academic year.

It will also be recalled that right after the cllash, the University Council released these list of urgent actions that must be taken.

i. Management of the University should continue to work on measures to interrogate the root and immediate causes of the tensions between students of Commonwealth and Mensah Sarbah Halls and put in place measures to eliminate these.Requisite actions should be taken to ensure the success of these measures.

ii. No events organized by students, should be held for the remainder of the 2021/2022 academic year without the express approval of the Dean of Student Affairs.

iii. Students who are offered places in halls of residence should be made to sign undertakings to be of good behaviour.

iv. To ensure accountability of hall officials to University authorities, the Vice-Chancellor should appoint key officers in all halls of residence, based on recommendations from the halls, in a similar way that heads of department are appointed. To this end, a standard procedure for the election/appointment of hall officials should be addressed in the ongoing revisions to the University’s Statutes.

v. The composition of Commonwealth and Mensah Sarbah Halls should be reviewed.

vi. Management of the two affected halls are to be held accountable for their actions and inactions for the persistent riots.

vii. The Hall Master and Senior Tutor of Commonwealth Hall have not exhibited sufficient willingness and ability to hold students of the hall accountable for their actions in the recent violent clashes. These officers should therefore, in the interim, be relieved of their duties while management works with the security services to investigate the clashes, and works towards finding lasting solutions to the tensions between students of the two halls.

viii. Commonwealth Hall is to be surcharged with the cost of damages to property in the vicinity of Mensah Sarbah Hall, in the recent clashes.

ix. The Junior Common Room (JCR) Presidents of Commonwealth and Mensah Sarbah Halls should be referred to the Disciplinary Committee for Junior Members, for their actions and inactions leading to and after the riots.

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