State fails to comply with LU demands, students and faculty escalate

Teachers want to see end to political intervention in LU

BEIRUT - Elias Shartouni

January 2003

By the time this publication went to print, faculty and staff at the Lebanese University (LU) were still on an open strike, which started on Nov. 17 to protest the government’s withholding of funds and intervention in LU affairs.

The LU Teachers league walked out in November to protest the Finance Ministry’s relegation of funds to the university budget reserves, which necessitates a joint approval of the Finance and Education Ministry to retrieve funds that were already allocated by Parliament.

Finance Minister Fouad Siniora’s austerity policy, coupled with an annual slash of LU budget (LL163 billion in 2003) by 10 percent, resulted in a LL2.3 billion deficit at the LU Teachers’ Mutual Fund, which covers healthcare and education fees for 1,600 LU Teachers and their dependents.

The university, which has 3,000 instructors, also has 70,000 students representing some 60 percent of Lebanon’s higher education students.

Teachers, who started their strike to protest the deficit at their mutual fund that restricted its coverage to emergency health cases, intensified their opposition coordination with student unions. This resulted in attracting more than 10,000 demonstrators who marched from the Barbir area to the Raid Solh Square to protest the government’s policy on LU.

Teachers demand that the government cover the deficit at their mutual fund, recruit qualified part-time teachers as full-timers, restore the prerogatives of the University Council and pay an increase on LU wages that have been frozen since 1996.

In the first meeting it debated the LU issue, the government approved the coverage of the fund’s deficit and recruit 30 instructors, but postponed discussing the revival of the defunct LU Council and the increase on wages.

Consequently, teachers described the Cabinet’s resolutions as “too little” and “a bribe,” saying that the government should have looked into a comprehensive solution for the state-run university that provides education for the lower classes.

The Cabinet’s resolutions did not convince teachers to suspend their strike and instead, teachers intensified their coordination with university students, this time inviting students of private universities on board.

Before the Cabinet held its second meeting, students had sponsored an open sit-in in front of the LU administration’s headquarters in Mathaf. Students also participated in a demonstration that teachers held while the Cabinet was in sessions.

But to the teachers’ misfortune, the Cabinet rescheduled its discussion of the LU issue, saying that it would dedicate a complete session to solve its problems. Officials had already agreed with Prime Minister Rafik Hariri to restore the LU Council, which is not expected to pass without opposition from Speaker Nabih Berri who enjoys vast influence of the university’s administration.

Meanwhile, students started circulating petitions that aim at pressuring the government to grant teachers their demands.

Students also launched a campaign to muster support among Lebanese students studying abroad to lobby organizations such as the UNESCO that is expected for its part of pressure the Lebanese government that should focus on free university education for all Lebanese adults.