January 7, 2014
Tensions are running high at Cuttington University. The
school is in dire financial straits with employees not being paid on a regular
schedule. Some of the problems are due to the Liberian government not paying
its part, some due to slow pay by scholarship donors, and some to
mismanagement. Since over 80% of the university’s costs are covered by tuition
and the university has power over students, they have resorted to some desperate
measures to collect past due tuition payments. One of these measures is to send
people from the finance office into classrooms to have students show their tuition
receipts. Those without receipts are thrown out of the class. It borders on
thuggery.
I physically threw one of these “finance Gestapos” out of my
class when he barged in during a student presentation. It seems these people
just do not understand the repeated words, “Get out of here. You are disrupting
my classroom”.
Such actions usually result in a reaction. Such is the case
when I receive an invitation from the Dean of Natural Sciences to meet in his
office. There sits the Vice-President of Academic Affairs and the gentleman who
invaded my classroom. The conversation is somewhat cordial as the “collector”
gives his version of events, I give mine, the Dean recites University rules,
and the Vice-President explains the university’s financial situation and the
problems they are having collecting tuition fees. Apologies are exchanged: the “collector” for not asking permission to
enter the classroom, me for being “demonstrative”, the Dean explaining the meaning
of various Liberian hand signals, and the Vice-President trying to figure out
how to control his angry faculty and collect the fees before a meeting that
evening.
I am happy to report shortly after my incident another
faculty member also threw a “collector” out of his classroom when he heard what
the “White Instructor” had done. I know I am not alone in disgust and sentiment,
but it is nice to have company on the battle line.
The solution seems quite clear. The university should
collect tuition fees when they are due, give instructors a list of those
students who have paid and who are to remain in class. The university requires all tuition fees are to
be paid before mid-terms. Since the university does not follow its own rules,
students are allowed to make partial payments on their own terms. This coupled with
a convoluted relationship between the private bank on campus where the fees are paid
and the recording of these payments at the Registrar’s office results in a “Who’s
on first” scenario.
Progress is being made. Last year students were allowed to
make final payments after final exams. This means a student who did not pay was
prohibited to take the final at its scheduled time, then allowed to retake the final
after payment. Advantage goes to students who now know the type of questions to
be asked; disadvantage faculty who have to give make-up exams.
If you think collecting tuition payments smacks of a Chinese
Fire Drill, you need to stay turned to learn about how final exams are to be
given.
