NUS must be more transparent about disciplinary process

The National University of Singapore (NUS) has made known the punishment meted out to students who were “responsible for inappropriate behaviour” during its freshman orientation period in July (“NUS disciplines 30 students over inappropriate orientation activities”, Oct 14).

These ranged from fines to official warnings on the students’ records. But are they fair? To whom will the fines collected go? Will it be back to a university fund or to a charity beneficiary?

Are staff who oversee the orientation programmes being investigated for lack of supervision, and if so, what disciplinary action has been taken against them? We can set guidelines for how such programmes should be run, but we need to be mindful that implementation and monitoring are important. These will set the tone and the culture of such programmes.

Are we sending a signal that the blame is purely on the student organisers, and there was no lack of professionalism and due diligence on the part of the school administrators?

NUS must be more honest, open and transparent about the disciplinary process, and how the penalties were determined, instead of just issuing a circular to students to close the matter. We all want to move on, but the response should be fair and must be made clear.