Adebayo Adenrele
Professor Joshua Olalekan Ogunwole, the 5th Substantive Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) has pledged to put an end to rising indiscipline, violence and other academic misconducts marring the achievements of the institution.
Ogunwole, who was inaugurated as the university’s fifth substantive Vice-Chancellor on Wednesday, said the institution has attracted public attention in recent years for the wrong reasons, including issues bordering on declining civility, erosion of decorum and conduct inconsistent with academic values.
According to him, these developments have overshadowed FUOYE’s legitimate achievements in teaching, research and innovation, while also undermining public confidence in the institution as a centre of knowledge.
He stressed that achievements that should have earned FUOYE national and international recognition have instead been overshadowed by controversies, resulting in institutional embarrassment and loss of credibility.
Ogunwole said the university’s leadership would take decisive steps to confront the situation through consistent enforcement of institutional rules and ethical standards.
His words, “In recent years, FUOYE has filtered and is filtering in the public space with troubling regularity, not for groundbreaking discoveries, not for scholarly excellence or scientific innovation, but for issues that strike at the very heart of the university.
“Reports of declining civility, erosion of decorum, manifestation of impunity and conduct unbecoming of scholarly communities are growing. This has drawn attention away from our legitimate achievements and undermined public confidence in the institution.
“Disturbingly, behaviors inconsistent with the values of academia, ranging from confrontational posturing and verbal aggression to open disregard for constituted authority have at times found expression within our governance forces.
“In some instances, individuals and occasionally groups operating under institutional platforms have engaged in actions that weaken discipline, order and respect for due process.
“Let me state clearly and unequivocally, such conduct will no longer be tolerated. Our collective conducts, particularly across social media and other public communication platforms, at times brought the university into disrepute.
“Achievements that ought to have earned FUOYE national and international recognition have instead been overshadowed by narratives of controversy, resulting in profound institutional embarrassments. Consequently our credibility in the cause of national and global opinion has suffered more than we may really acknowledge.
“Leadership therefore must rise decisively to confront this culture of fear and consistent enforcement of institutional rules and ethical standards is imperative not as an act of repression but as a necessary step towards restoring trust strengthening governance structures and rescuing from further erosion as custodian of a public trust we hold”.
