LU Tripoli back to class after protests

TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Thursday was the first day of courses at the Lebanese University branch in Tripoli after weeks of interrupted classes as a result of strikes and protests over the appointment of a Christian director. Graduate students at the Faculty of Economics and Business attended their classes normally, while undergraduates gathered in a restaurant called “I Like” in Tripoli, waiting for the rescheduling of their final exams.

A meeting chaired by Branch Director Jamilah Yammine and other professors and students Friday should decide on the matter. The fall semester’s final exams were delayed by more than a month and a half as a result of the strikes.

“The faculty reopened today and tomorrow, Friday, a meeting will be held to set new dates for finals and the start of the spring semester,” student Walaa Qattar told The Daily Star.

Qattar stated that protests were never sectarian and that their outrage was “purely academic.”

“We have rejected the appointments that have been made because they violate… the division of administrations according to sectarian balance,” she said. “We have asked for this balance but we haven’t protested against Dr. Antoine Tannous or Director Jamila Yammine.”

Qattar added that students have faith that Education Minister Elias Bou Saab will resolve the issue. “We only respect the decisions of the education minister and his promise to solve the problem in a month, because we trust his word. [But] we are ready to miss classes for another month, if necessary, in order to fight for our dignity.”

Demonstrating students said they disapproved of the appointment of Yammine as director, arguing that a Sunni should be the director. Yammine is a Christian. Similar protests broke out when Tannous, another Christian, was appointed weeks before Yammine.

Protesters accused LU President Adnan Sayyed Hussein of ignoring the tradition of maintaining an equal number of Sunni and Shiite directors at the university, a norm that had prevailed in past years.

A meeting chaired by Bou Saab Monday and attended by all political influential parties at the Tripoli LU branch reached an agreement under which Yammine would remain in her post.

However, all branches of the Lebanese University would have one month to re-examine the appointment of faculty directors in a manner which respected the National Pact of confessional power-sharing.

A private meeting was held at the residence of former Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Tripoli Wednesday to discuss the problem. Attendees, including MP Sleiman Frangieh and ex-minister Faisal Karami agreed on two aims: to preserve “national balance” in branches in the north and to correct the sectarian imbalance in the business faculty.

“An agreement was made with the education minister,” student Hassan al-Ahmed said. “The director position in the first branch in Hadath, the second in Ashrafieh or a third [branch] will be assigned to a Sunni. This agreement was accepted by all the different political student offices.”

Khaled Sahyouni, also a student at the university, said the admission by the education minister that students were in the right indicated that the decisions made by the university president were biased.

Mohammad Shama, another student, told The Daily Star: “We, as students, have never thought about the issue from a sectarian angle, and each of us has his own political affiliation.” He claimed the Tripoli branch was being intentionally neglected to stir up trouble.

“We hope that our assembly today will be a step toward reform. We aim to present the true picture to everyone: that we are all united.”