Report: by Rihab Abou Al-Hosn
Translation: by Daisy Khalil
For what seems like forever, I hear about the endless struggle of the Lebanese University students and the difficulties that teachers and students face on daily basis, in their journey to have one unified University for all the Lebanese. Struggle continued until war inflicted division upon it, and politicians started to take advantage of that to "turn it into something else, something way different than how a university should ever be."
Students and professors' hearts were broken on their unaccomplished dream, the University for which they worked hard, eager to take it to the level of their ambitions and aspirations; this same University in the name of which they fought in many "battles" along the years, away from all sorts of factional, sectarian, partisan and personal interests whatsoever.
If those who are politicizing the University and exploiting it for narrow personal or sectarian reasons actually realized how important the teachers and students' struggle was back in the 50s, they wouldn't have dared do so. Accordingly, the professors wouldn't have been forced now to beg the politicians for a simple approval of their well-deserved demand, the project submitted to the cabinet for them being rendered full-time workers.
In February 1950, the Lebanese University was born, owing to the strike carried out by students of the poor classes who were unable to pay the private universities' fees. And here are our professors today, still demonstrating and facing the security forces to defend, to the fullest, their own rights as well as their students'.
The dossier of the Lebanese University returned today to the foreground of Lebanon's local issues. The teachers' full-time employment dossier lies in the cabinet's drawers, awaiting the approval for the sake of more than 650 professors. Ministers started to tackle this case more than a year ago, with no results achieved thus far. The delay is yet unjustified, which prompted professors to sound the alarm and announce strike.
Education Minister Hassan Diab, who was formerly the LU rector, seemed to know nothing about the reasons behind all that hampering, although experts and academics deemed the submitted file as the best and most balanced amongst all, with no more than 2 to 3% impurities therein! So, if the Education Minister himself has no clear justification, then who does?
Dr. Wafa Noun, excluded from the full-time employment dossier, told the National News Agency that the origins of what is happening at the Lebanese University today is due to the state's refusal to let the file pass in the cabinet "as it does not take into account the country's sectarian balance!"
Noun made it clear that independent Shiites, Sunnis, Christians and Druze who are not affiliated to any party, were excluded from the aforementioned dossier.
"The University's file is crucial, according to its President Adnan Sayyed Hussein, who called on the government to finalize two of the most important projects: appointing the LU deans and rendering contract teachers full-timers."
Noun noted that the problems of the Lebanese University were not only limited to the full-time employment dossier, but also to the "Lebanese University Trainers' Committee" derailed by the cabinet as well.
She strongly criticized the principle of quotas which controls the appointments in general and the LU teachers' appointments in particular.
"Officials reviewed the list of excluded people, but to no avail, under the name of quotas and sectarian balance which affected the rights of many politically-independent professors," she regretted, calling for the formation of a University Council to prevent any exclusivity in the decision-making.
"The excluded teachers in general, and myself in particular, (...) badly want to know the reasons behind their decision to exclude us. If it was due to our incompetence, then we might accept it. But to be told that sectarian balance purposes were involved, that is something we would never tolerate."
She noted that "excluded teachers will address the Ministerial Committee charged with this dossier to request clear criteria for full-time employment."
The Chairperson of the Commission of contract professors at the Lebanese University, Dr. Mervat Ballout, considered, in an interview with the National News Agency, that the basic problem was that the project of full-time teachers was not applied on annual basis, which accumulated the number of contractors.
Ballout assured that the urgency of this dossier lies in two reasons: the first pertains to the implementation of the MB system, which left the University in need for new and diversified specialties, hence additional teachers. The second is the University's need for dedicated professors in light of the rising numbers of retiring persons.
"Contract teachers have no time for elaborate scientific research as they need time to focus on education, either in private universities or schools, so as to secure a decent life," Ballout explained.
She added that the full-time employment dossier waiting to be approved by the cabinet was based on vacancy, efficiency and seniority, noting that "the number of applicants exceeds two thousand, so it would be difficult to render them all full-timers at once."
"Therefore, the cabinet must work on the ratification of a the full-time file, provided that it be associated with the adoption of a timetable for its implementation, in order to radically solve this chronic problem," Ballout concluded, affirming that full-time teachers will not give up their rights, neither will they suspend the strike, until the fulfillment of their demand.
============D.K.
