Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - No Surprise: ASUU Opposing Campus Sexual Harassment Bill

Moses, Olajumoke

Thanks for consistently advancing for proper ethics and sense of responsibility in Nigerian academia. Good points.

Jibo

Jibrin Ibrahim PhD

Senior Fellow

Centre for Democracy and Development
16 A7 Street,
CITEC Mbora Estate,
Jabi/Airport Road By-pass,
P.O.Box14345, Wuse
Abuja, Nigeria
Tel - +234 8053913837
Twitter- @jibrinibrahim17
Facebook- jibrin.ibrahim

On Wed, Jun 22, 2016 at 9:48 AM, Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso <jumoyin@gmail.com> wrote:

Thank you, Prof Moses Ochonu, for your three posts on this matter: the Unilorin audio recording, the exposure of ASUU's immoral attempt to subvert this important legislation, and the clarification on the point that Prof Aluko made with respect to equivalence of offense between lecturers and students.

I am compelled to repeat the third point you made above: it is lame, indeed ignorant and even mischievous for lecturers to claim that they suffer an equivalent offense when students offer them sex for favours. The argument that this happens is often advanced by lecturers seeking sympathy for their inability to grow up and their inability to tame their urges. Were we all to concede to gratify every desire that was offered us - be it sex, food, money, etc - we would be back in Hobbes' state of nature. The more important point that people miss in the discussion of sexual harassment in universities is that, at its most basic, and even if you do not subscribe to moral arguments, at its most basic, sex between a lecturer and a student is an abuse of power. Simple and short. And - yes, controversially - even when that sex is "consensual". It is an abuse of power in a relationship that from the beginning gives the lecturer disproportionate power over the student, power which always conditions the student's response to him/her. If I may further point out, this power is not just negative power (ie power to sanction disobedience) but also positive power (ie power to turn around the student for good, empower the student to think of hard work rather than shortcuts, power to mentor rather than exploit).

I am sick of the lame argument that (usually) male lecturers make regarding (usually) female students offering them sexual favours, "harrassing" them. If some people are incapable of handling the challenges of this line of work, they should find alternative jobs and stop smearing all the rest of us. In my University, many lecturers have been fired once established they had sex with a student. There is no question of whether the student offered the sex or not. That is the way I think it should be.

Thank you.
Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

--
Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To subscribe to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Current archives at http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
Early archives at http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "USA Africa Dialogue Series" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to usaafricadialogue+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.