Protesting students of the University of Liberia on Monday disrupted normal academic activities on both the Capitol Hill and Fendall campuses respectively, rejecting newly appointed President of the University, Dr. Sarwolo Nelson.
The two campuses were scenes of protest, as students were forced by their protesting colleagues in abandoning classes.
President George Manneh Weah, who is Visitor to the University, dismissed UL President Dr. Ophelia Inez Weeks a week ago, the second female to serve as Head of that institution since the late Dr. Mary Antoinette Brown-Sherman in the 80s, replacing her with Dr. Nelson, former Dean of Students.
The dismissal by President Weah came just as lecturers were poised to boycott classes in demand of salary.Monday’s demonstrations came just days after the students also prevented the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs Mr. Nathaniel McGill, from attending a fundraising program at the Capitol Hill campus.
Angry students barricaded the Minister’s official vehicle, effectively denying him from disembarking. He was scheduled to have served as chief launcher at the program, organized by the Centennial Class of the Graduate and Professional School.
The University of Liberia (UL) has suffered a series of protests and disruption of normal activities.Days before President Weah dismissed Dr. Weeks, faculty members at the University began a strike in demand of their unpaid salaries.
The UL faculties’ strike came after public high schools teachers abandoned classes in protest for their arrears, which also led kids from these public schools to stage a mass demonstration, demanding President Weah to address their teachers’ concerns.But police used tear gas against the kids who had blocked the main street to speak with President Weah.
Salaries delay remains a serious embarrassment for the Weah regime, prompting civil servants here to threaten a nationwide go – slow by the end of October if government fails to meet a number of demands, including full payment of their arrears and a halt to unauthorized reductions of their earnings.
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