Monrovia – The University of Liberia is embroiled in multiple challenges, which is now being compounded by a wave of protests by students who are demanding the resignation of the institution’s President – Dr. Ophelia Inez Weeks.
Report by Alpha Daffae Senkpeni – [email protected]
The angry protest sparked fear late last week after they prevented the free flow of traffic through the Capitol Hill in Monrovia.
But it is the concern of the students that have overshadowed the magnitude of their actions, which now appears to be the first protest President George Weah has to deal with.
“This particular action was provoked by the consistent refusal of Dr. Weeks to allow 8,000 of our comrades to remain in school.”
“Never in our lifetime will we sit there to allow that happen when we know that Dr. Weeks has none of her children in this university,” says Martin K.N. Kollie, secretary general of the Student Unification Party.
On Monday, the Liberia National Police said it arrested and is investigating eight students following another protest on Monday, February 5 on the main campus of the university on the Capitol Hill.
The LNP said the protest led to the smashing of the back windshield of the official vehicle assigned to House Speaker Bhofal Chambers.
According to a release from the LNP, the Speaker was heading to work when his vehicle came under attacked by the rioting students.
These recent protests were triggered by a decision by the Weeks-led administration to end the registration process despite calls to allow all the students complete the process – a decision the students’ leadership has rebuked.
Now, they are making two unconditional demands: the resumption of the registration process for 8,000 students and the immediate resignation of Dr. Weeks.
“Dr. Weeks is a visible danger to the interest of over 20,000 students at the University of Liberia.”
“Since Dr. Weeks came to UL her refusal to build consensus, her refusal to coordinate with other organs of the university is unimaginable,” said Kollie.
The secretary general of the Student Unification Party said they have been negotiating for the extension of the registration process since last October but to no avail.
Sources told FPA the university President takes unilateral decision, she’s often insensitive to the plight of students and ignores suggestions to negotiate issues affecting the students.
They are counting on President Weah to give Weeks the boot.
Said Kollie: “If the visitor of the university (President Weah) insists that Dr. Weeks remains on the campus of the UL, I can inform you that from the angle of SUP that there will be consistent protest that might degenerate into something else.”
Frequent Protests
Frequent protests at the state run university have generated criticisms against the students’ approach to remedying problems.
Some critics of the students’ leadership say resolving to violence have the propensity of disturbing the peace and sparking public unrest.
The LNP HAS described the protest as unacceptable and has the potential to undermine the rule of law, and frighten potential visitors to the country.
The LNP said as the result of the protest, two of its officers from the Police Support Unit sustained serious wounds and are currently undergoing medical treatment at a local hospital in Monrovia.
But Kollie argues that such perception about the “Conscious minded university students” is erroneous and that – “It is a logical fallacy to blame the students for a system that is not automated.”
Weeks Somersaults
On Monday, Dr. Weeks somersaulted by reopening the registration process after House Speaker Bhofal Chambers convened all parties to a meeting as a result of the students’ Friday protest.
At a press conference held on the Fendell campus of the university Monday, February 5, Dr. Weeks announced that the registration process will resume Wednesday, February 7.
“The university will allow those students to register but details of the process will be available by the end of today or first thing in morning,” she said.
“The reason we want to make sure that all of the steps are put in place, that all of the players from the administrator side are in agreement with what the steps are so that there is the least amount of hatred that this could possibly cause.”
Dr. Weeks Must Step Down
Dr. Weeks is struggling to make amends but the students are adamant she must step down and are labeling her a Persona non grata to the university.
Kollie said she has “defied the popular will of the student populace” and must therefore resign.
This is a very contentious issue that may see further protests by the students in the coming weeks, FPA has learned.
“Dr. Weeks is threading on a wrong trajectory,” he warns.
“It is not a bad precedence – it is even worse for the President (Weeks), who has no good intent of the university, to remain at the university and undermines the educational sojourn of students.”
At the press conference, Weeks fired back and said the protests are not the “will of the majority of the students.”
“It is not the will of the leaders of the university and students’ leaders but it is a group of people bent on not making the university a place of education, a place where we can develop scholars, a place where people can have intellectual interchange because that we leave that small group out and sometimes is only a small group that causes major havoc,” she said.
However, the status of the university remains under severe criticisms as many students blame the administration for its poor state and the endless list of challenges.
Everything at the UL is complex; students have to stand in long queues to complete their registration process, which is also done manually.
At the same time, the university lacks every basic facility ranging from library, laboratory, Internet, buses, to clinic amongst others.
“The University of Liberia cannot boost of a functional website.”
“All it has is a Facebook Page, which anyone can create. How in this world and in this age of communication and technology, a state run university established since 1862 cannot boost of a website,” said Kolllie.
Demand For Digitalized System
At the same time, the students are also demanding that the administration automate the registration process that they said would help ease the registration delays and limit the time for registration process.
Digitizing the system, the students say, will end the ill-planned measures and complexities by cutting down the registration period and prevent all the tensions.
“In other countries or other universities students sit in their bed rooms to register.”
“It is only at the University of Liberia where students have to stand in long queues to do registration,” the SUP secretary general said.
But the administration has complained about being under funded by the government and has repeatedly claimed that it cannot address the needs of the students without the requisite budgetary allocation from the government.
Although the UL budget has been significantly increasing in recent years, some observers say monies are not spent to upgrade the system and improve the school.
Four years ago the university budget was US$9.9 million, now the budget is US$16.1 million following several advocacies.
The students are however contending that the increment of the university budget should not only be used for the increment of salaries and benefits for the administrators but should rather impact the students by improving the basic services.
According to the master plan of the UL, US$29M is required to fully fund its improvements of the UL and upgrade the university a topnotch institution like several others in West Africa.
Meanwhile, Kollie insists both the Student Unification Party and the University of Liberia Student Union are unwavering about their demands to see the university improves.
“If issues at the university that promote quality education cannot be handled or those challenges cannot be resolve, obviously the students will demand quality education through whatever means. Protesting for quality education is a right, according to Article 6 of the Constitution,” he said.