Monrovia – The University of Liberia is one place in Liberia that sees constant protest actions either from students or the faculty members.
The constant disruptions of normality on the campuses of the university are getting on the nerves of some concerned students, who have called on the institution’s administration to take some stringent measures against the planners as over the years most of those protest actions have resulted into the damage of UL properties and others.
The UL Administration has taken some actions to curb or minimize the constant protest actions. One action it has taken to ban student politics on its campuses something they believe will help to curtail campus protest and allow students to focus on their academic activities.
Speaking to FrontPageAfrica Wednesday, October 16, some concerned UL students expressed their dissatisfactions on the part of some of their colleagues, who are always found in various demonstrations on the campuses.
Those concerned students are calling on the administration to draw up tougher action in order to minimize the wave of violence on the campuses of the University.
According to them, the number of protests at the university has not only slowed down the progress of the institution but has also contributed to the over stay of students.
“I am calling on the administration to do something about this constant protest issue, because it is hampering our education. Something needs to be done to serve as a deterrent for other students to see,” Mulbah Kollie, from the Science College noted.
Another student, Paul K. Johnson, wants the UL’s administration to swiftly put a halt to campus protest. According to him, it is a platform student leaders now a day use to embarrass administration as well as fellow students.
“The issue about protest is not a good thing for us the students because whenever there is a protest it negatively affect us the students.”
For student Mercy Sherman, protest according to her, which is an aged-old problem should be done only as a last means of readdress. According to her, student leaders should only engage in protest when all means of engaging administration have been exhausted.
“I think campus protest should only be approved by students leaders after all forms of engagement with administration have been put forward, but other than that, it should not be allowed and encouraged by any students,” Sherman concluded.
Abraham Sheriff, another student wants the UL Administration to sit with various student leaders on possible way of ending yearlong protest.
“In order to end campus protest once and for all, I am calling on authority at the university to sit and discuss with student leaders on possible means of ending protests at the state run- University.”
Lawrence Mambu, a student from the College of Agriculture is also calling on authority at UL to put stronger anti-protest law in the Student Handbook.
According to student Mambu, stronger law or punishment will help to diminish the frequent waves of protests.
“Protest is a regular thing here at UL because there is not much punishment for it. So there needs to be something done like a law forbidding unnecessary protests by student groupings.”
Buttressing his colleagues’ statements, student Alphonso Cooper views campus protests as critical issues needing the collective attention of the administration as well as the student body.
Cooper reasoned that protests in the past have not solved anything but only led to the destruction.
“Students have been protesting on this campus, it has not solved anything, in fact, it has only caused this institution more harm than good. For me, I am totally against any form of protest at this university,” student Cooper posited.