Aden University Students Union demands reconsideration of converting female students’ housing into a headquarters for the College of Media

On Thursday, the General Union of Aden University Students called on the presidency of Aden University to reconsider the project of transferring female students’ housing to rented housing, and converting their housing to a media college.

This came in a statement issued by the union, a copy of which was obtained by "Yemeni Youth Net", including the outcomes of the union's meeting regarding the female students' housing located in Al-Shaab City in Aden.

While the union praised the efforts of public opinion, it condemned "being dragged into the media attack that targeted and offended the staff of Aden University, and the attempt to falsify the facts, and spread misleading information that affects the academic status that the university occupies."

The General Union of Aden University Students confirmed that "the female students are still in their residence in Al-Shaab City, and they have not been expelled until this statement was written, as some have promoted."

The statement called on "the presidency of Aden University to develop solutions for the needs of female students' housing, change the management of the housing, and hand it over to the General Union of Students of Aden University, under the direct supervision of the Student Affairs Office."

The union stressed that "the female students' housing is a vital outlet for female students, and one of their basic rights, and its loss negatively affects female students in particular, and Aden University in its academic evaluation in general."

The union called on "all government institutions, the leadership of the local authority, international and local organizations, and civil society to pay attention to the female students' housing and support it in providing its necessary needs and requirements."

The union said that it had followed up on the developments of the university female student housing located in Al-Shaab City, which included a proposal to convert it into the headquarters of the College of Media. As a result, the union went to the Student Affairs Office to review and clarify, as well as to sit with Prof. Dr. Al-Khader Nasser Lasour, President of Aden University, expressing the students’ position on the proposal to transfer the housing.

The statement indicated that the union went down to the female students’ residence and confirmed that the female students were still there and had not been evicted as was circulated on social media, noting that a meeting was held with representatives of the male and female students and representatives of the female students’ residence at the university and the recommendations contained in the statement were issued.

Students denounce

A number of female students at Aden University had denounced the university administration’s efforts to seize their housing and evict them from it in Al-Shaab City in Al-Buraiqa District, west of the interim capital, Aden, in the south of the country.

According to local media, the university administration demanded the evacuation of the residence under the pretext of converting it into a college, and the students confirmed that this decision would greatly affect female students coming from remote areas, and would exacerbate their suffering.

It is noteworthy that this building has been used as a dormitory for female students for many years, and that the administration of Aden University had previously issued a decision to vacate it and rent it to an organization, but the implementation of the decision was stopped.

Aden University denies

In turn, Aden University denied the news of female students being assaulted in the university housing in Al-Shaab City, stressing that the purpose of spreading these rumors is to incite society and public opinion in Aden to disrupt the university’s expansion projects, which aim to benefit from the female students’ housing building and transform it into a media college, according to its claim.

The university explained in a statement that demand for university housing for female students has become weak, and that its large area is no longer suitable for the small number of female students residing in it.

The university added that it is working through specialized committees to convert the female students’ housing into a building for the College of Media, with the aim of contributing to improving the educational infrastructure by providing modern and advanced facilities.

It is noteworthy that the Faculty of Media at the University of Aden was a department affiliated with the Faculty of Arts at the university, and its headquarters were in Khormaksar. Years ago, the university presidency announced its conversion into a college, and it does not have an independent building, so they took some of the halls of the Faculty of Arts as a temporary headquarters for the administration and students.

With the increasing number of male and female students enrolled in the Faculty of Media, the university decided to vacate the female students’ residence located in Al-Shaab City and convert it to the Faculty of Media, and to work on renting another building as an alternative location for female students’ residence, which is rejected by the female students and the union.