-ULFASA cites reasons for disengagement from all learning activities
By: Blamo N. Toe/Staff Writer
The University of Liberia Faculty and Staff Association has attributed their disengagement from all learning activities to the unpaid salaries for part-time lecturers and unbearable working environment for workers among others.
Over the weekend, ULFASA at a called General Assembly in the auditorium of the university Capitol Hill Main Campus in Monrovia unanimously passed a resolution, announcing their disengagement from the classroom until their longstanding plights are fully addressed.
The body also maintained to remain out of the Fendell, Sinje, Medical, and Capitol Hill Campuses until UL President, Dr. Julius Sarwolo Nelson and the entire management team left the administration of the institution.
The President of the UL Faculty Association, Dr. Edna Johnny stressed that before the holding of the General Assembly; her leadership held several discussions with the UL Administration to solve the problems faced by the faculty and staff but to no avail.
“When we call a meeting like this, it is because we have talked and we think we have reached somewhere that we can go no further. So it is incumbent upon us as your leaders to alert you, to let you know and you will take whatever decision that you want to make and we as your leaders are under obligation to uphold those decisions that you make,” Dr. Johnny said.
She recounted that prior to the resumption of this semester, the part-time lecturers remained unpaid, which has also extended to the current halted semester, while the administration kept deducting taxes from their income without any benefit.
According to her, the faculty and staff working at the UL Sinje Campus do not have a transportation facility to commute to work, noting that they have to use their low salaries and commercial bikes, tricycles, or vehicles despite their commitment.
In furtherance, Dr. Johnny indicated that a lot of complaints have come from the faculty and staff at the Fendell Campus, alarming over the lack of ceiling tiles in the AB Building; something that makes the classroom very uncomfortable during the Dry and Rainy Seasons.
“There are series of occasions, our colleagues have complained they did not have bathrooms to go to; the sanitary situation at Fendell is appalling. The road leading to the Science College there is also appalling,” she emphasized.
The ULFA President asserted that the faculty, staff, and security are working in an unsafe atmosphere, stressing that when the students of the university are angry and begin throwing stones and disrupting classes as a result of their challenges, the faculty, staff, and security often become the victims.
Dr. Johnny emphasized that the UL Administration under the leadership of Dr. Nelson is not doing well to improve the welfare and working environment of the UL Faculty and Staff Association, adding that the faculty and staff are unhappy with the management team of the state-run learning institution.
“In recent times, the Administration has generated millions of United States Dollars but students cry for chairs, poor working environment and lack of teaching materials for faculty members. If we do not stand together, we will perish as fools. Let us do something for ourselves. We deserve better treatment,” she voiced out.
Also speaking, the Secretary General of ULFA, Eric T. S. Patten stressed that while the faculty and staff lack transportation services and salary payment, some individuals are fast becoming full-time and associate professors.
He also disclosed that upon announcing the holding of the General Assembly, the UL Administration began the distribution of contracts to part-time lecturers, describing it as belated and long overdue.
“Personally with me, I’m tired of the entire management team. Let Sarwolo Nelson and his team go,” Mr. Patten maintained.
As the search for a new President for the UL is on, the UL Faculty Association Chief Scribe firmly indicated that would-be the next President must come from within and not outside of the university, saying said person understands the constraints faced by his or her colleagues.
The ULFA Secretary-General added that the leadership will ensure the Search Committee set up by the Board to implement the mandate to get a new President process is open, free, and fair for the participation of professors at the institution.
“So, Liberia politically voted on a rescue mandate; the University cannot be left out. The University has to fit in the Rescue Agenda and we must make the University fit in the Rescue Agenda,” he noted.
According to him, there are qualified, tested, and competent professors at the University who are capable of adequately running the activities of the state-owned institution.
He said it makes no logic to bring in a new person from outside to serve as President, noting that said individual will struggle to learn and understand the running of the University.
