The Zone D(Southwest) of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has expressed concern over the expulsion of 18 Theatre Arts students of Osun State University (UNIOSUN) in connection with alleged leakage of examination questions.
NigeriaInvestment Guide
The association gave the university authorities seven days to comprehensively review the issues surrounding the disciplinary action or face ‘’peaceful and lawful mass action.’’ It said in a statement by the Coordinator, Adeyemo Kayode, that it conducted an independent fact-finding exercise into the matter to determine the students’ levels of involvement and the processes through which the disciplinary action was reached.
The statement reads in part: “Having reviewed these accounts alongside members of our executive, we remain deeply concerned that 18 students with materially different levels of alleged involvement were subjected to the same ultimate punishment of expulsion.
“Let it be clearly stated that NANS does not condone examination malpractice, leakage of examination materials or any act capable of undermining academic integrity.
“However, protecting academic standards does not remove the obligation to ensure fairness, individual culpability, proportionality and transparency in disciplinary proceedings.
“There is a fundamental difference between a person who allegedly gained unauthorised access to a lecturer’s computer and obtained confidential examination questions, a person who knowingly distributed such material, and another student who simply received questions through WhatsApp circulation without participating in the original compromise.
“These different circumstances cannot reasonably be treated as one identical offence without establishing what each student actually knew, did and intended.
“Management has reportedly relied on provisions concerning possession of valid examination questions before an examination. This raises further questions which must be answered individually.
“Was every affected student aware that the questions forwarded to them were authentic leaked examination questions? Did they solicit the material? Did they participate in obtaining it? Did they knowingly redistribute it? What evidence specifically connects each of the eighteen students to deliberate wrongdoing?
“The mere fact that material appeared on a student’s WhatsApp account cannot, without examining the surrounding circumstances, automatically establish that every recipient played the same role in the original compromise.’’
