Towards the achievement of Social Justice in Liberia

Universities’ Hooligans Must be Punished

The University of Liberia main campus on Capitol Hill  erupted in a wave of riot Wednesday and left approximately 14 students wounded with properties damaged.

Students there substituted intellectual discourse with barbarity and succeeded in shutting down the university and effectively deprived their colleagues’ right to education for that day.

The story is that a group of students were protesting the disqualification of their party’s candidate from a political debate for the scheduled student government elections, hence the source of the riot.

That University students will behave like beast and adopt an uncivilized approach in solving problems is unfortunate, though not surprising.

The University has for the most part become an icon of violent clashes that do not only occur within its perimeters but beyond. In most instances those riots are without merit and even if there were any, a nonviolent agitation would be appropriate.

But this unwholesome act is not unique to students of the University of Liberia. A year ago it was the African Methodist Episcopal University students that unleashed chaos and anarchy in central Monrovia, placing now sacked Education Minister Dr. Joseph Korto and others in solitary confinement for more than eight hours while causing injuries and damaging properties.

This has become a culture in the name of so called student politics that is not tied to exchange of ideas but a noisy discussion about nothing.

Enough is Enough! We demand the death of this culture which reminds people of this country’s dark years. We are aware that some of those students were rebel “Generals” yesterday. But that they accept to go to school, they must equally consider and accept their respective universities as an academic village and not a theater for gangsterism.

In Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, we are told that school authorities there expelled 14 students for unruly behavior. The authorities in Buchanan must be commended for such swift and deliberate actions. This example must be modelled. The UL  and other universities authorities must take the same swift and deliberate action and show their rioters the exit door.

Violence must never be seen as an alternative to a healthy meeting of the minds of mature men and women, no matter the issue.

While violence is, at times, attributed to normal levels of aggression typical of human beings, student violence or any other act of aggression that hurts another individual in school gravely is a major school safety concern for all school authorities and the society at large.

Thus, we implore universities authority to disallow impunity to flourish. A thorough investigation should be conducted and all those responsible for the UL bloody riot should be punished. Enough is Enough!  An example from the Buchanan incident would be highly appreciated. Let the hooligans take the exit door!