GIJ: Casely-Hayford apologises for alleged sexist comments against female students

A member of Occupy Ghana, Sydney Casely-Hayford has apologised for alleged ‘sexist’ remarks he made in reference to female students of the Ghana Institute of Journalism.

In a comment on Citi FM Saturday, Mr Casely-Hayford advised students of GIJ to focus more on empowering themselves than on trivial things such as fashion.

According to him, most of the students at the University, a large number of whom are females, are more concerned about what they wear than their training.

“Go to the Ghana Institute of Journalism, GIJ, and look at the students who are coming out, majority of them are females and when you look at it, you will see that it is more of a fashion parade…so when we are talking about quality of journalism, they should tone down on the fashion and get a little bit more serious with the actual content,” he added.

The Students’ Representative Council (SRC) of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) subsequently issued a strongly-worded statement reprimanding Mr Casely-Hayford over his remarks and demanding that he retracts and apologised for his comments which they described as “an insult to the values of the Ghana Institute of Journalism.”

Mr Casely-Hayford in an interview today said apologised for his comments, adding that it was not supposed to be a remark on their intelligence.

He said: "You are saying that, all that the girls at GIJ want is for me to apologize for what I said, right?... Alright, please tell them I am very, very sorry. I didn't intend any offense and it wasn't supposed to be a remark on their intelligence".

The GIG SRC has accepted the apology of Mr Casely-Hayford and called for a debate on the quality of journalism independent of the fashion sense of females in a particular institution.

Nathaniel Alpha, Secretary General of the GIJ SRC and Occupy Ghana member, Sydney Casely-Hayford

Read the entire GIJ SRC statement below;

GIJ SRC Accepts Apology of Sydney Casely Hayford

The Students’ Representative Council of the Ghana Institute of Journalism accepts the apology of Mr. Sydney Casely Hayford, on remarks he made about female students of the Ghana Institute of Journalism as it relates to the quality of journalism in Ghana on  Citifm’s Big Issue show on Saturday, January 20, 2017.

As an SRC, we would work hard to ensure that statements that misrepresent the image of students are nipped in the back.  Ultimately, as students of the institute, we have a great responsibility of ensuring we are viewed in a very good light.

Let’s start a conversation about the quality of journalism in Ghana, independent of the fashion sense of females in a particular institution.
 
...Signed...
Nathaniel Alpha
GIJ SRC General Secretary