Giving Luster to the LUX

By Joe Bartuah

NOTE: This article was originally written on June 8, 2009 for publication in a Liberian-owned magazine. Its reproduction herein is informed by the issues raised at the time and the necessity to further highlight the needs of the University of Liberia; expect a sequel.

Former President Edwin James Barclay famously referred to it as the “Lux in Tennebris,” the proverbial light in a vast sea of darkness. Its charter was carved out by the Legislature in 1951, to succeed its precursor, the erstwhile Liberia College, which had been in existence from 1862.
However, from the outset, the University of Liberia (UL) didn’t have a broader national outlook; its parochial confines tended to reduce it to a sort of University of Monrovia, as the national university lacked regional campuses throughout the country.
In spite of its structural inadequacies, UL continued to cater to the academic aspirations of the bulk of the nation’s youth until the eruption of the senseless civil war in December 1989. Like every well-meaning institution in the country at the time, the university was severely ravaged by the 14 years of devastation.
Against such dismal backdrop, it’s needless to say that UL needs help in order to continuously serve the educational needs of the Liberian people. This herculean imperative has motivated the nationalistic zeal of some selfless Liberians to organize themselves into the Massachusetts Alliance for the Restoration of the University of Liberia (MARUL).
Dr. Sam Beh (Class of ’83), president of MARUL, who spoke on May 2nd at the group’s inaugural festivities in Lowell, MA, said the organization’s founding was “in response to an appeal from the University of Liberia to the public for supplies, equipment and instructional materials” to enable the institution carry on its mission of teaching, research and service to the nation.
Beh, himself an eminent educator, noted that embedded in the overwhelming challenges of rebuilding UL “are opportunities for rebuilding the kind of university system that must not only be based in Monrovia, but must have satellite campuses in major regions of the country.”
Disclosing that student enrolment at UL has soared from its prewar high of 9,500 to its current peak of 18,000, Dr. Beh said the “physical facilities” created at the inception of the university “seemed inadequate and did not sufficiently address the issue of access and equity.”
“I believe that the university should continue to pursue its core objects of teaching, research and service and lease out to the private sector those services it might not have the capital to adequately fund and manage,” Dr. Beh emphasized. He said privatizing certain sectors of UL would ensure efficiency and sustainability.
Beh says members of MARUL have already begun putting their money and talents to where their mouths are. The group donated a consignment of office supplies and instructional materials to the former UL president, Dr. Al-Hassan Conteh last year as part of its short term response to the university’s needs.
Beh’s inaugural speech also contained a three-plank proposal which comprises MARUL giving meritorious scholarships to needy students, soliciting support for books, supplies and staff development as well as forging a strong partnership with U.S.-based alumni groupings “to create a broader and more effective University of Liberia Alumni Association.”
The program attracted scores of alumni, former students and employees as well as friends of UL. The guest speaker was Victoria E. Ward, daughter of the late Professor Victor E. Ward of the chemistry department. Ms. Ward chairs the Victor E. Ward Educational Fund, an academic charity set up in memory of the late illustrious professor.
Mr. Sam Teah, president of the Federation of Liberian Community Associations in Massachusetts installed the MARUL officials into their respective offices.