By Precious D. Freeman
The United Methodist University (UMU) has termed as false the information trending on the internet about the number of graduates and the percentage of individuals who graduated with honors.
Addressing the press yesterday in Monrovia, the president of the university, Yar Donlah Gonway-Gono, said that the false information is not only spreading on the internet but also shared across the various platforms of friends and relatives who they considered as their stakeholders and partners in the education landscape of Liberia.
She observed that the false information was trending so fast that individuals who were sharing it with friends were not even concerned about the authenticity of the information, but rather they just wanted to be a part of the team that sent it to their friends.
According to her, one of the falsehood posted that 350 of their graduating students were honored as Summa Cum Laude while 500 students were honored as Magna Cum Laude, and 375 students were honored as cum Laude.
She added that in the same false information it was mentioned that only 100 students graduated regularly, and that the post put their total number of graduates at 1,325 students.
“The critics of the 18th commencement convocation did not only focus on the number of honorees, but also on the venue of the event and the time it took some of their graduates to get home,” she indicated.
“Here are the facts about the 18th Commencement Convocation of the United Methodist University of Liberia of which the President of Liberia, George Manneh Weah served as the commencement speaker, Honorary degree recipients; two persons, Number of graduates1,337students in various disciplines, Number of honored students 114 at various levels,” she explained.
Speaking further, she said that several media institutions including the Executive Mansion Press Corps narrated the 18th commencement convocation in various styles that none of our social media actors quoted in their various posts.
“These individuals completely ignored the August 31, 2022, editions of the Daily Observer and the News Newspaper and went on to publish their own stories about the UMU graduation,” UMU president maintained.
Madam Gonway-Gono clarified that whatever or whosoever that is behind this kind of misinformation needs to understand that the academic community that they are a part of will not take their falsehood at face value, but instead they will look deeper just as students and other academicians will do before reaching a logical conclusion.
“We accept the fact that the world is becoming so narrow because of internet which is the vehicle of social media, but we value the authenticity of information that is shared about the UMU and its people, and we will not deal with these kinds of social media posts which will reduce the UMU to the level of conducted its business on the social media,” president Gonway-Gono made it clear.
She maintained that the United Methodist University will use the social media in the most valuable and truthful way to conduct their business with stakeholders, partners, and students where necessary.
Meanwhile, she used the platform to call on their friends and partners in the media that they are available to share all information concerning the university and to provide clarity where necessary.
