A student from Meru University college was suspended for one year and forcefully evicted from the institution for using social media to point out the shortcomings of the institution. According to journalist and blogger Dennis Itumbi who broke out the story on twitter, Cyprian Nyakundi was summoned by the University disciplinary committee on 18th of September to answer charges of tarnishing the image of the university through social media.
Nyakundi told Itumbi that during the committee hearings he maintained that he had posted the alleged social media updates. He also pointed out to Itumbi that he had updated about the condition of life at the university. In his facebook and twitter updates he had complained about the the condition of the road to Nchiru town and unavailability and inadequate stocking of books at the library among others.
On Friday 5th Nyakundi received three letters from the administration. Among them was a warning letter and the others announcing his one year suspension from the institution. All the three letters were authored by the deputy principal a Professor Gitonga N. Mburugu. The last letter even advised him to appeal the decision within fourteen days.
By the time of going to press the matter was trending on twitter with the hashtag #LetNyakundiTweet. Many of the Kenyans on twitter expressed displeasure on how Nyakundi had been treated. Kinyanjui Njonjo wrote "Stopping the education of a student for saying the truth is unfair". Itumbi who was the first to tweet about the issue even wrote a blog post on his website and even shared the letters sent to Nyakundi.
Ironically the university is a constituent college of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology which is renowned in information technology. Also in another twist the University has an account on twitter. We shall only wait and see if the campaign on the social media will force the University to rescind their decision to suspend the student.
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