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While President Emile
Lahoud and Speaker Nabih Berri met Wednesday to discuss ways to bring the
Lebanese University’s (LU) open strike to an end, students held a
demonstration to protest the government’s withholding of funds and its
intervention in LU affairs.
“More than a month has passed and the LU is still closed,” said Hussein
Salloum, a student at the American University of Beirut (AUB).
Student councils at the nation’s private universities have expressed their
solidarity with the LU, saying they were ready to participate in all
activities that would support the state-run university.
According to Salloum, students were planning to hold a two-day sit-in in
front of the National Museum.
“It was supposed to be an open demonstration, but the Cabinet is expected to
discuss the problems of LU in its Monday session,” he said.
Students and the LU Teachers’ League held a meeting Wednesday to “assess”
their protest last Thursday, which attracted more than 10,000 demonstrators,
the largest number of protesters in a single protest in a decade. On
Thursday, the league’s secretary, Khaled Hdadeh, and six LU students will
hold a public debate in AUB “to raise student awareness of LU problems.”
So far, private universities have been distant from LU problems. Private
university students said their councils would try to lobby to hold a one-day
strike in solidarity with the LU, which has been on strike since Nov. 17.
Salloum, a member of the Communist Students group, told The Daily Star that
all student political groups supported the LU teachers and their demands,
which include covering a $1.5 million deficit at the LU Teachers’ Mutual
Fund, recruiting qualified part-time instructors, reviving the defunct
University Council and giving faculty and staff a wage increase.
In its Monday session, the Cabinet is expected to approve the restoration of
the prerogatives of the University Council. Teachers believe that the
council would limit political intervention in LU affairs.
The Cabinet, however, is not expected to grant an increase in wages, which
have been frozen since 1996.
“We think we are entitled to receive a good education,” said Rasha Najda, a
student at LU’s Communication School. “Officials should realize that it is
about time they stop interfering in LU affairs.”
Najda, one of the demonstrators at Mathaf, said that students fully
supported the teachers’ demands. LU professor Issam Khalifeh briefed
students on the teachers’ stance.
“We also want to see the Students and Teachers Council revived, because it
would give us a say in LU affairs,” Najda said. “The budget is too small,”
she said, adding that the government should allocate more money to maintain
the university’s facilities.
Najda said that it was the LU’s good fortune that political parties
unanimously supported it and the demands of its teachers. “Every party is
participating and expressing its solidarity,” she said. |
