Students’ harassment was in internal matter

THE recent reports of harassment of female students at the University of PNG (UPNG) was an internal issue and would have been dealt with by the university’s disciplinary committees at the Waigani campus.
UPNG is an intellectual community with its own security forces, disciplinary committees and rules and regulations that govern the entire institution.
Every incident within the campus should be reported to the disciplinary committees to be dealt with.
The presence of media personnel has taken the matter to the extreme.
What happened has now tarnished the reputation of all the male students and the so-called premier university in the Pacific.
Not all male students are perpetrators.
Some good students are still out there.
Only a few students go around and harass female students on campus.
These students should be identified and dealt with by UPNG disciplinary committees.
The university is affiliated to several other universities such as Australia National University, James Cook University and other universities in Australia and the Pacific.
And, recently, UPNG has partnered some universities in the United States of America for a first semester student exchange programme.
UPNG is also the host of Australia awards in-Papua New Guinea scholarship and New Zealand government pacific scholarship.
The recent protest about the harassment of female students, which was the headline in all media entities, will not help weed out harassment.
It has ruined the reputation of every male students and the integrity of the university.

Yengz Raingz Muno
UPNG