UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, KUMASI
VICE-CHANCELLOR’S OFFICE

Our Ref: VC/UC/1(d)
6th May, 1973.

RECEIVED: 9 MAY 1973

Confidential

The Chairman of Council,
University of Science & Technology,
KUMASI.

Dear Chairman,

I am writing to confirm some of the points I made yesterday when we discussed your letter No. BK:93/73/3 of 2nd May, 1973.

First of all, I want to state that the current decision can only create a crisis of confidence between the students and the University Council on whose behalf you act. It was on the strength of your decision, based on the views of Council members who were available for consultation, that I promised the students on the 29th of April that they would receive a copy of the Johnson Committee’s Report, but without its appendices.

That same morning, i.e. 29th April, I invited the Registrar to my office and conveyed this decision to him. We also discussed the draft minutes of the last meeting of Council and agreed that until a full White Paper was prepared the main decisions of Council would
accompany the Report. The reason for the urgency was that the Students’ allowances were to be paid on 1st May, and it was important that Council decision concerning deduction from the allowances at source to cover the cost of damage caused by the students should reach the Students Representative Council before action was taken.

I agreed with the Registrar that the Report should be released to the students in the afternoon of the following day, i.e. 30th May, and that the following should also receive copies:

(1) The Academic Staff Association
(2) Professor A. N. Tackie
(3) Dr. K.E. Appiah.

On Monday, 30th May, upon enquiry the Registrar informed me
that the Report would be ready for distribution the following day,
May 1st.

I left for Accra by the first plane on Wednesday, 2nd May. The date of your letter suggests that in spite of his assurances the Registrar did not take the action agreed upon. The question which arises is: What happened on the 30th April and the 1st May? I am, of course,
addressing a separate letter to the Registrar as he should have the answer.

In your letter you deny you gave the students any assurance or promise that they would be given a copy of the Report. The President of the S.R.C. has in a discussion with me this morning confirmed that you did not give them any such promise and that it is unfortunate
if they gave me that impression. He emphasised, however, that their demand for a copy of the Report is based on equity and fair play.

It is also important to note that the decision to give them a copy of the Report without the appendices was taken not on the basis of any promise made by you(as you were alleged to have made) but solely on the desirability of doing so.

As you know the situation which has arisen now is due to the fact that Council neither discussed nor took any decision on the disposal of the Report. If it is your view that the Report should not be published without a White Paper on it, I would support this. I would, however, respectfully disagree that the White Paper “can only be prepared after
Council has received and discussed the Reports and Recommendations of the Academic Board and the various Committees to which some very important matters in the Report have been referred” The White Paper should be on the Johnson Report only and not on the report of any other Committee.

In my opinion Council’s views/decisions when it discussed the Report on 18th April could be embodied in a White Paper. It would be most undesirable to prolong this issue until June 22 because certain “relevant matters”, which by their very nature would take a long time to consider, had not been reported on.

In the circumstances, it will not be possible for me to announce to staff and students the decisions Council took on the events of March 22nd and 23rd. To do this would be to act in a vacuum and would only lead to further confusion and difficulties.

The matter is so important that I feel an emergency meeting of Council should be called immediately to consider it.

Yours sincerely,

(E. EVANS-ANFOM)
VICE-CHANCELLOR

c.c. Council Members

Read more