Monrovia, Liberia – Recent acts of vandalism and damage at the Liberia Football Association (LFA) headquarters by a few members of the campus-based Students Unification Party (SUP) have drawn criticism from Dr. Layli Maparyan, President of the University of Liberia (UL).
Dr. Maparyan, speaking on behalf of the university administration, stated that each time students leave the campus and misbehave, it damages the university’s reputation and makes it more difficult to deliver the instruction for which they came.
Dr. Maparyan, meanwhile, pointed out that it was highly ironic that she was meeting with SUP members on the UL Capitol Hill campus in a calm, fruitful, and educational setting just as some SUP members were committing the damaging and vandalizing act at LFA.
For the University of Liberia family as well as for society at large, “I believe that the LFA situation is quite worrisome.” According to Dr. Maparyan, “I was actually having my first sit-down meeting with members of SUP at the time that situation was developing at the LFA.”
The UL President added that during the discussion with the SUP members, “I discussed the significance of minimizing the violence that has been linked to the demonstrations and how it interferes with the university’s academic objective.”
Dr. Maparyan noted that although the students at the meeting appeared to agree with her viewpoint, they pointed out that it was ironic that the same circumstance was occurring at the same moment they were speaking.
Regarding the action taken by the Liberia National Police (LNP) to deal with the LFA crisis, Dr. Maparyan stated that she supports the police in carrying out their duties and bringing people to justice, acknowledging that the police have jurisdiction over the problem.
While it’s always necessary to distinguish between several jurisdictions when enforcing regulations, “I’m ready to take action if any of our campus’s policies are broken once the names are given.”
“We have three options: warning, suspension, and expulsion,” the president of UL said.
In order to provide the students due process, even within the institution, she stated that an investigation will be conducted before any action is taken. If the seriousness of the matter demanded it, Dr. Maparyan promised that suspension or expulsion would be applicable.
I’m delivering a verbal warning right now, letting people know that we take these issues seriously and that just because they claim not to have read the student handbook doesn’t imply that our university’s regulations don’t exist. “They do,” she said, “and they have to be followed.”
