Suacoco, Bong County – Father James Tamba, Dean of the College of Theology at Cuttington University, has been appointed as interim president of the university following almost of week protest.
Report by Selma Lomax, [email protected]
Bishop Jonathan Hart of the Episcopal Church and chairman of the university Board of Trustees announced Tamba’s appointment Thursday following a meeting with students and faculty. Bishop Hart was escorted on the campus by heavily armed police officers.
Tamba will serve until the end of the semester when a new president would be appointed.
The students’ action began on the day senior students were expected to begin taking final exams.
On Tuesday, students protest heightened against the administration of Dr. Herman Browne, as they stormed the university’s entrance and barring vehicles from entering.
They marched across the campus carrying signs that read: “Brown must go” and “No school until Dr. Brown resigns.”
Bong County police struggled to end the students’ protest as they demanded Browne’s resignation for failing to live up to the task since he took over a year ago.
They accused Browne, a 1986 graduate of Cuttington, of bad labor practices, poor management and dictatorial leadership.
Reading the position statement on behalf of the students on Thursday, the president of the Cuttington University Student Union (CUSU) Clint Layweh reiterated their stance for the resignation of Dr. Browne.
Among other things, they informed Bishop Hart that since Dr. Browne took over the administration, students have been buying sheets to print test and purchase other instructional materials.
They claimed many female students are constrained to act as security on their own, while enrolment has dropped considerably.
This semester, Cuttington registered a little over 1,000 students as compared to last semester when the university had an enrollment of 1,450.
Layweh told the chair of the board that the protest would continue as long as the Episcopal Church and the Board refuse to let Dr. Browne go.
“We will continue the protest until the Board of Trustees and the Episcopal Church reverse their decision,” he declared.
Another student, who spoke under the condition of anonymity to avoid victimization, told our correspondent that “nothing has been done for students to see as the reason for the increment in non-tuition fees and why Dr. Browne should be president of this great citadel of African Excellence”.
Since Dr. Browne was inaugurated as president in 2016, there has been a drastic cut in electricity supply from 18 hours to five hours daily, from 10AM to 12PM and from 7PM to 10PM, the student said.
The protesting students claim the electricity outage prevents boarding students from accessing the internet and studying at night.
Some students told Bishop Hart that Dr. Browne does not relate to the student leadership or even the teaching staff because he has an authoritarian style of leadership.
Speaking earlier, the President of the Liberia National Student Union (LINSU) Matthias Yeanay called on the CU administration to timely address the concerns of the students.
Bishop Hart said “Cuttington is bigger than anyone else so we will not allow this institution to be reduced to public disrepute”.
He assured the aggrieved students that some of their concerns will be addressed in the soonest possible time, calling on them to influence their parents and officials in government to increase the institution’s subsidy to take care of its many priorities.
He said in the last budget cycle, CU received $500,000 from the government, but that amount dropped to $300,000 in the 2016/2017 budget.
“It costs US$1,050 a day to run the generator on a regular schedule from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and from 7 p.m. to 2AM. The university needs 20 gallons of fuel an hour to run its 410 and 510 KVA generators.
“Cuttington University cannot survive on tuition alone and that’s why we have been pushing for an increment in the budgetary allotment and for government ministries and agencies,” Bishop Hart concluded.