Rusticated UCC students battle case in court

Final year students who were among the 22 students rusticated by the University of Cape Coast (UCC) have not been cleared by the authorities of the University to enable them leave campus after writing their final examination.

Normally, final year students are expected to be cleared from all debts and possession of materials including books belonging to the University, before leaving campus but authorities are unwilling to do so for the students.

Mr K. O. Amponsah Dadzie, counsel for the 22 rusticated students therefore sought relief from a Cape Coast High Court where the case is pending to submit a supplementary affidavit on the current development. 

The Court presided over by Mr Justice William Boampong, accordingly granted the relief.

Counsel for the University, Mr Solomon Gyasi however, argued that the relief being sought by his learned colleague was a gimmick to unduly delay judgment on the case.

The parties were in court to set a date for the ruling on the substantive matter, but it was adjourned to Thursday, June 29, due to the latest development that the University had refused to clear the affected students.

It could be recalled that violence broke out between students of the University of Ghana (UG), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the University of Cape Coast (UCC) on Friday March 17.

This led to severe injuries to three students as well as the extensive destruction of both public and private properties belonging to the school and some lecturers.

The University authorities constituted an eight member committee to investigate the incident and recommend disciplinary action which resulted in the rustication of the students who are mostly executives of the Atlantic Hall Junior Common Room. 

The others are the hall-week Planning Committee members of Atlantic Hall.

The Committee’s reasons were that they disregarded the authority of the University and were negligent in their duties, thus leading to non-compliance with directives from the Dean of Students.

Some old students of Atlantic Hall took the matter to the law courts and on Tuesday May 23, an interim injunction restraining University authorities from preventing the 22 students from writing the end of semester examination was granted.

The court further ruled that UCC should also refrain from interfering in any way whatsoever with the academic work of the students.

Source: GNA