The ceremony, in partnership with the US Embassy in Dakar, was scheduled for Wednesday at the Centre d’Etudes des Sciences et Techniques de l’Information (CESTI), but reportedly cancelled “on the instructions of the Director” of the journalism school “without prior consultation,” according to SAES.
The union said it was opposed to the “decision that goes against the fundamental values of journalism such as freedom of expression”, before demanding “full respect for university franchises.”
“The distribution of press vests to journalists is a service to the (media) community for their safety,” SAES declared.
“This donation of press vests is a logical continuation of the partnership between CESTI and the United States Embassy”, with the recent organisation of a training seminar on public and institutional communication for communication officers of public institutions, it continued.
SAES recalled that in 2016, as part of a partnership, there was an activity relating to the “project to support media professionals on transparency in the governance of public finance and mineral resources,” initially planned for CESTI, but the venue relocated to the Bopp Centre “at the request of the university authorities.”
SAES thus called the “attention of the university community to the repetition of such abuses”.