University of Liberia Crisis; President's Intervention Requires Practical Financial Steps

The University of Liberia or UL - the nation's highest public institution of learning opens its doors anytime this month to thousands of students for this academic year.

Accompanying the planned commencement of classes as announced by the UL Administration were threats of "resistance and disruption" by some students led by the University of Liberia Students Union or ULSU.

 The threats by the group of students were against the backdrop of the UL Administration's decision to increase fees per credit from L$175.00 to US$5.00, as well as transportation fares from L$30.00 to L$100.00.

Authority ties of the university attributed their decision to the drastic reduction of the school's budget by the Government of Liberia from US$28m to US$13m - a justification rejected by the students, owing to what they referred to as the continuous 'poor learning environment'.

But the intensity of the row between the two may have last week attracted the attention and visit of the Visitor to the University, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf to the campus on Capitol Hill in a bid to reduce the tension. An urgent meeting, hosted by the 'Visitor', then ensued at her Foreign Ministry Office between her and the two - the students and administration for a common ground.

While the outcome of the meeting is yet to be revealed, we hope the US$28m-budget of the university will be revisited (even though the budget is already passed into law) for an acceptable readjustment.

 In the interest of the general student populace. Even though the university may be receiving some funding from external sources as we may all think, the tasks at hands are very enormous at the UL so much so that whatever funding we think may be coming from external sources may not be positively impacting the general learning environment.