Following the mysterious death of a female university student sometime back, tongues have wagged and noses have twitched Spectator bloodhounds caught the 'scent' around noon last Sunday and nosed pretty deep into an alleged involvement of students in satanic rites for monetary gain. The vogue in some of the universities, as far as female students are concerned is, ac¬cording to their own parlance, "maintaining standards." And maintaining standards means going fashionable and trendy with the latest de¬signer wears any modern wardrobe can offer. G-Strings, high-heeled shoes, gold chains and other accessories add up to paint the picture of a university girl "maintaining standards." It also has to do with getting money to pay off hostel fees, eating the most expensive "beef fried-rice with chicken and lobsters," drinking red wine and generally living good while crack¬ing at their academic courses. And how do these girls finance such expen¬sive lifestyles when some come from very poor families? Mates of the ill-fated girl told the Spectator about the unbecoming lifestyles of some of their colleagues who go to a jujuman in Ashaiman to prepare "charms" for them to hook unto rich men in society. "We hear some even go to the Republic of Benin to see voodoo priests to get these charms. Some of the girls disappear from school and when they come back after a week or so, they start leading lives they are not known for," one student girl told Spectator. "It is just amazing." When the girl (name withheld) died, rumours went round that she kicked the bucket because she allegedly misapplied whatever was given to her at the shrine to do to grab the big-shots. "We hear that she was supposed to do something she either forgot or refused to do, and that caused her death," the Spectator source said. And who are the so-called rich men? "Any person who is gainfully employed, is responsible or conspicuously seen to be living okay is a target these days,” the source said. “And if you are hooked by the charem you are most certain to forget all about your wife and children. You’ll be spiritually compelled to channel all your money into financing their hostel and other fees and good living of the girls. It could be ministers, MPs, businessmen, civil servants, whoever.” Asked how long such “charms” are supposed to work, the sources said they were ignorant about the details concerning the time-frame and the use or misuse of the powers over people. They, however, said some of the girls who indulged in such potentially scandalous behaviours suddenly become pompous. Overnight they buy cars and start throwing their weight about. Asked if the phenomenon of “maintaining standards” was widespread among students, the sources said it was quiete the norm among certain student circles. Source: Spectator