NUS suspends student-organised orientation activities after 'inappropriate' behaviour

SINGAPORE —  For the first time, the National University of Singapore (NUS) has suspended indefinitely all team-building activities organised by students for its freshmen, in the wake of instances of “unauthorised and unsupervised” activities that contravened university rules.

In a press statement on Friday (July 29), the university said all such team-building activities – including orientation camps, and freshman activities in halls and residential colleges – would be suspended “until further notice”.

The NUS announcement came after The New Paper reported on Tuesday about increasingly sexualised activities at recent NUS orientation camps. Investigations are being conducted into these activities.

“The instances of unacceptable behaviour and activities that have surfaced this week play no part in a university education,” NUS said. 

Adding it was “deeply disappointed” that some of its students had flouted the rules and behaved unacceptably in organising freshman activities, the university said those responsible would face the university’s Board of Discipline.

While student-organised team-building activities for freshmen were suspended, NUS said other activities, such as freshman inauguration ceremonies, and faculty and department briefings, would go ahead as planned.

“Freshman orientation activities at NUS serve to welcome and introduce our freshmen to the university community ... Our students, particularly freshmen, must feel safe and secure at all times during orientation,” it added.

While the NUS announcement will be welcomed by freshmen and others who have voiced their opposition to, and discomfort over, these controversial orientation activities, students such as 23-year-old Daryl Yang found it to be a “disappointing and regrettable move” on the administration’s part .

Mr Yang, a third-year student reading a double degree in liberal arts and law at Yale-NUS and NUS Law, said: “As much as I find it deeply problematic that such inappropriate activities are carried out at orientation camps, the solution is not and cannot be in banning these events.”

“Doing so only sweeps the problem under the carpet for the university administration because the problematic attitudes and mindsets that led to these activities will not be addressed and will continue to fester among students,” said Mr Yang, who is the coordinator of The G Spot, a Yale-NUS student organisation focusing on promoting diversity and inclusion on campus. 

He called for more transparency, such as holding a townhall for students and staff to work together on resolving these issues, and promoting “young people’s understanding of sexuality, consent and respect”.

A second-year student from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, who wanted to be known only as Ms Ang, said the blanket cancellation of all freshmen orientation camps was a major letdown for all those involved, especially those who had put in a lot of hard work and money into them.

One way to verify the accuracy of the allegations is to conduct surprise checks at various orientation camps, she added.

“When bombarded with online aggression, I believe (the NUS administration) had buckled under the pressure and reacted in a way that only served to pander to popular sentiment, rather than tackling the key issue,” said Ms Ang, 20.

She added: “The blame should not go to the camp organisers who do not have the control over the actions of a selected few. Rather, it is important to keep in mind that this culture is passed on from generations above and perhaps, even the group leaders themselves were under peer pressure to keep the culture going.” 

However, students such as 19-year-old NUS freshman Rachel Lim, felt that the university’s move would help to reassure anxious parents, given the negative publicity over the orientation camps.

“But I still think there’s no need to permanently get rid of the orientation camps,” she said.