UL Donor Conference Turns Zero
By: Lewis Glay
Forum
Monrovia, Liberia
Distributed by
The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia
SUP’s Acting Chairman Patrick Sahr Mbayo, in an interview with The FORUM recently described as “unfortunate” the failure of the much-publicized UL Donor Conference scheduled for March 10-11, 2005 in Pennsylvania, the USA.
He said UL President Al Hassan Conteh was up for what he called “ordinary publicity” because according to him, up to now there has been no explanation with respect to why the conference has not been held as planned, adding, “even if it has been postponed the students are yet to be informed.”
According to him, the UL faculty is reportedly not part of the program. “We think this is unfair; we are not demanding that students should be part of it but the faculty constitutes the integral part of the UL family and must therefore form part of such a program in order to give greater flavor to it,” the SUP executive emphasized.
Commenting on the Fendell issue where the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are advised to vacate the campus, Mr. Mbayo said what appears to be a major obstacle is the reported plan of Dr. Conteh to hire a private company to provide transportation for the students of Science and Agriculture Colleges who will be transferring on the campus.
“I am told that extra fees will be charged on the tuition of the students of both colleges to offset the expenditure for the private company service,” Mr. Mbayo further noted.
The SUP Acting Chairman also said while the students were finding it difficult to obtain their last semester grade sheets due to lapses from the Record and Admission Office, a late fee of L$100 has been charged thereby increasing financial burden on the students. “This is a clear attempt by the administration to increase tuition,” Mr. Mbayo claimed.
The SUP executive also revealed that faculty members were demanding two months salary arrears before they can commence classes for the second semester.
But ULFA Acting Chairman Prof. Laveli Pewee denied any such demand by the UL instructors. However, he confirmed that UL is owing them for two months, adding, “in fact, others have been asking why we have been silent but we have told them that we should give Dr. Conteh a chance to try.”
When the UL Public Relations Director Augustine Boakai was contacted for comment, he was adamant to release any information and told our reporter to “go and write anything you have.”
