Recently, the Civil Society Coalition on Education (Cesc) and the Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) condemned the alleged case of sex-for-grades at Mzuzu University.
It was refreshing to see stakeholders from the education and human rights sectors band together against a vice that has for a long time eroded the credibility of local institutions of higher learning and made the learning environment uncomfortable for female students.
Ideally, a learning environment should be a place where students, regardless of gender, feel safe, and where grades are awarded based on academic prowess and merit. Trading grades for sex obscures the grading process and awards undeserving students.
It is also a violation of women’s rights, not to mention one of the worst forms of gender-based violence (GBV). What makes this so deplorable is that this form of abuse is perpetrated by the people entrusted to protect the students.
University authorities should step up and investigate these cases and ensure appropriate sanctions are imposed on all wrongdoers. There should also be steps to ensure this does not happen again in our universities and workplaces.
Several interventions to end the vice have failed. Several factors have contributed to that. Sometimes, the victims are reluctant to speak out against an authority figure that they believe has the power to alter the course of their academic and professional lives.
Or it could be the fear of public ridicule and stigma associated with sexual abuse. It is hard to come out and talk about such a traumatic event before a panel.
However, there is one dimension to the sex-for-grades problem that is largely ignored but could be one of its strong determinants. When the sexual favour was consensual and/or solicited by the student.
Traditionally, we have been programmed to believe that women are the victims. Granted, most sexual abuse victims are women but it is a great disservice to the fight against sexual harassment in the workplace.
The problem with consensual sexual transactions is that they usually go undetected. If a lecturer and a student agree to engage in a sexual relationship for a grade, that grade can be awarded and no one would be any wiser about it.
Society only hears about harassment cases where something went wrong—either when one party was not compliant or if the “return on investment” was not enough.
As a society, we need to start having a serious discussion about what happens when an undeserving student has benefitted from a sexual favour. Historically, these are usually banded into the group of victims on the premise that the lecturer is in a position of power.
However, we need to be cognisant of the fact that a solicitor was aware of that power and wilfully sought to exploit that power to their advantage. They are gaming the system as much as the lecturers who indulge them.
As long as a sexual favour can be solicited and granted without sanctions, it creates an incentive for sexual predators and solicitors to continue the malpractice. And the innocents will be caught in the middle.
So, how do we solve the problem once and for all?
First, university authorities should create mechanisms to review student grades. If student grades are subjected to thorough scrutiny from departmental heads and faculty committees before they reach the senate, it would be easy to flag outliers and irregular grades.
Second, the sanctions against sexual harassment such as suspensions, dismissals, and where necessary, criminal prosecution, should be enforced indiscriminately. Cases should be investigated and punishments meted out at the earliest opportunity.
Third, if this has not been done already, local universities should include sanctions for solicitation. We need new policies that disaggregate between victims and unprincipled people who benefit from this social vice. Disqualification or withdrawal would be ideal starting points.
Once we have these systems in place and they are enforced, we will move closer to eradicating the vice in local universities. Let’s make our universities safe for all and a place to promote academic excellence.
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