MONROVIA, Montserrado – On Friday, students of the University of Liberia disrupted classes and erected roadblocks on the Fendell and Capitol Hill campuses, preventing free movement of people and vehicles.
The students were protesting the closure of the registration period for the current semester, which began on September 11 last year. They demanded that the registration period be reopened to allow them to go through the process.
As part of their protest, the students set ablaze tires at the intersection in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which hosts the office of the president of Liberia. The fire, which prevented the free flow of vehicle traffic for hours, raised security concerns.
The students later abandoned their action on both campuses following negotiations by senior government officials, including the speaker of the House of Representatives, Bhofal Chambers.
This semester has seen numerous protests by University of Liberia students. Registration activities at the university for the ongoing semester was announced closed last October. It was, however, reopened on the request of former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for students who had paid their fees, but had not completed the process for registration.
A second protest was initiated by the students after the second supplementary deadline. Those students held the university’s president, Ophelia Weeks, hostage in the Capitol Hill campus auditorium for hours.
Following another negotiation among student leaders, the former deputy police inspector general for operations, Abraham Kromah, and authorities of the university, another agreement was reached to consider students who had paid their fees by November 15 of last year.
Following a consultation with the university’s cabinet, Weeks agreed that the process would remain open for all students who made bank deposits of fees by November 25, instead of the 15th.
An authority of the university who spoke to The Bush Chicken on conditions of anonymity for fear of being attacked by the students said although the second supplementary deadline has since elapsed, the registration is still open to allowing students who made bank deposits before November 25 to complete their process until February 11.
“From the standing of the university and from the survey and everything that was done, November 25 was a logical time, instead of the 15th of November, so the university opened that process,†the individual disclosed.
The senior university staff member said the university’s president also met with student leaders on Wednesday at the Fendell campus and explained to them that reopening the registration exercise would entail other logistical and instructional constraints, with less than three weeks left for final exams.
Already, the source said, the semester has been far delayed because of the many interruptions by student protests, which prevents the more than 11,000 registered students from attending classes.
The university’s staff member said the University of Liberia is in close consultation with the president’s office for a scheduled board meeting that would determine the next course of action.
Meanwhile, the University of Liberia Student Union has distanced itself from the many protests and condemned the violent posture of students.
The student representative to the university’s council, Orando Fallah, called on students affected by registration process to be calm.
Fallah told The Bush Chicken on Friday that Speaker Chambers had told the student union that the legislature would make an intervention in the situation by early next week.
He said the student leadership has long engaged the university to allow students who have not paid their fees and those who made part payments through the students’ government financial aid to register but to no avail. He said the refusal of the administration to consider the more than 8,000 students to register led to the protests.
UL Council Student Representative, Orando S. Fallah. Photo: Gbatemah Senah
According to him, ULSU enlisted more than 3,000 students for its financial aid, but the amount was cut down by half by the administration because the money deposited by the union could not cover a significant portion of the total fees for such number of students.
Fallah said each of the students benefitting from the ULSU financial aid got US$50 paid toward his or her total fees and tuition for the semester. Any balance was the responsibility of the student to pay before being allowed to complete registration.
“Currently as it stands, students that did the part payment [ULSU financial aid] and those that did not make any payment at all, are the ones in this registration saga,†he said.
He, however, blamed the challenge faced by students in generating their fees and tuition on the failure of the university to absorb all the students enlisted for the ULSU financial aid program. , despite commitment by the union leadership to later settle what would have become an outstanding debt, contributed to the current tension at the university.
“This is why as a student government, we are still calling on the university and national government to at least absorb these students for this semester,†he said.
UL has a long history of student protests that often disrupt classes, thus leading to delays in the academic calendar. Because of the situation, most students would spend more than the regular required number of semesters to complete graduation requirement courses.
Photo courtesy of Emmanuel Degleh
