The political nature of student advocacy with tense activities including protestation at the University of Liberia is about to welcome the leadership of Dr. Layli Maparyan as the Student Unification Party has issued a 48-hour ultimatum for the office of admissions and enrollment services to activate the add-bottom for student to add courses and plan their learning activities to their own convenience.
With the history of student protest at the state-run university of Liberia been regarded as threats to academic activities, the popular student based political party, SUP has reportedly stated recruiting it members to engage into a sustained protest action that will inconvenient the new university president to prioritize what they called the student quest for a better learning environment.
On Monday February 24, 2025 several students were seen on the Fendell campus of the university engaging others to leave their classes and join them in a protest activity geared at calling the administration attention to a situation preventing them from adding courses on their respective logs.
According to them, since the resumption of classes at the university following the appointment of Dr. Maparyan as the university 16th president, there have been several unattended issues by the school’s administration.
They reported that under Dr. Maparyan’s leadership at the university, several students have been given admission to enroll at the nation’s highest learning institution but there has been no access given to have them using the Electronic Portal of the school.
Moving the discourse to a local radio talk show on Tuesday, February 25, 2025, Student Timothy Kwa, a member of the hierarchy of the Student University Party, disclosed that the situation has marginalized thousands of new students and prevented hundreds of other students from smoothly learning the required disciplines stipulated in their curriculum.
According to Kwa, the alarming issues that the past university administration failed to solve are the same issues that Dr. Maparyan has reportedly failed to pay attention to on a timely basis to improve the learning programs of the students.
The students’ representatives reported that the issuance of admission letters to several new students has created a room for a huge increase in the number of students on the various campuses.
“We are calling for increase in the number of class sections on the platforms and campuses of the university. The add-bottom must be activated and the renovation budget for the institution should be implemented and anything on the contrary, Dr. Maparyan will see the biggest students’ action in the next 48 hours,” Kwa intimated.
As part of the campaign ahead of the pending protestation, the students also revealed that they will no longer sit on the campuses of the university watching the president in whom many other Liberians were deprive of getting the job to continue flying planes.
“She was appointed as the most qualified president of the university following the long year’s cry of the students. We are calling on the president of the university to do the needful in changing the current situation on our campuses rather than flying plane like an air president,” the students asserted.
In a brief conversation with the Vice President of the University Relations Cllr. Norris Tweh, he disclosed that his office had no knowledge on the protest concern being raised by the student while promising to make a position statement in the soonest possible time.
He however, acknowledged that concern of the add-bottom could be a very serious issue that the university’s administration had to look into but on the basis of conversation with the office of enrollment services. Up to press time, the position of the administration of the University of Liberia remains unclear.