The “Committee of Hourly Contract Professors at the Lebanese University” sent a letter to Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, in which it sounded the alarm about the continued postponement of the contract professors’ sabbatical file, warning that keeping the file off the agenda of the Council of Ministers once again puts the university, its professors, and its students in front of the unknown, and may reopen the door to strikes and movements.
The committee said in its letter to Salam: “The file of sabbaticals for contract professors at the Lebanese University is in your custody, and today you have a decision that will restore the university’s administrative and academic regularity, do justice to professors who have performed their duty for many years, and protect thousands of students from returning to the cycle of strikes and instability.”
The committee reminded the Prime Minister of what it described as his promise to approve the file, saying: “You promised to approve the file, and we trust that your promise is a commitment, and that you look at this file from the angle of truth, justice, and the stability of institutions.”
However, she expressed her surprise that the file was not included on the agenda of the Council of Ministers session scheduled for Thursday, adding: “We were surprised by the issuance of the agenda of the Council of Ministers session next Thursday without including the full-time file, which raises legitimate concern for us, especially since the file is now in your custody, and that we were waiting for the promise of approval to have moved to the implementation stage.”
The committee warned of the repercussions that could result from continued postponement, stressing that the issue is no longer linked exclusively to the conditions of contract professors, but rather to the stability of the Lebanese University, the regularity of the university year, and the fate of students.
She said: “Continuing the postponement of the file means keeping the Lebanese University, its professors and students, in the face of the unknown, and reopens the door to strikes and movements that we have always sought to avoid.”
She pointed out that the pledges of the President of the Republic, Joseph Aoun, and the Prime Minister represented, for the professors, a guarantee that the file would reach its conclusion, adding: “Your promise, along with the promise of His Excellency the President of the Republic, was a guarantee to us that this file would reach its conclusion.”
The committee called on Salam to intervene to include the file on the agenda of the Council of Ministers, whether through an appendix or during the session itself, saying: “We expect you, with the powers and responsibility you possess, to take the initiative to place the file on the agenda of the Council of Ministers, whether in an appendix or during the session, and for its approval to be one of your priorities, in line with what you have committed to before the professors and the university.”
She concluded her message by saying: “Mr. President, we are counting on your promise and your responsibility at this stage, and we are waiting for you to take a clear step that will restore confidence to the professors and stability to the Lebanese University and its students. Our confidence in you is great, and we hope that your decision will be up to this national and academic entitlement.”
The file of full-time contract professors is one of the chronic files at the Lebanese University, as it is linked to the transfer of a number of professors on whom the university’s colleges depend for teaching from the hourly contract system to full-time, which gives them a more stable employment and academic status and provides the university with a full-time teaching staff.
The issue gains additional importance due to the Lebanese University’s reliance on large numbers of hourly contractors to cover its teaching needs, at a time when the financial and administrative crises that Lebanon has experienced during the past years have directly affected the conditions of professors and the university’s ability to maintain its academic stability.
Over the past years, the university has witnessed a series of movements and strikes carried out by professors to demand improvement of their conditions and the approval of files related to full-time, staffing, and financial rights, which at various stages led to the suspension of lessons and exams, leaving thousands of students facing a state of uncertainty.
Sabbatical time is considered one of the basic issues in reorganizing the educational staff at the university, but its approval has always been linked to administrative, financial, and academic discussions, in addition to the necessity of taking into account the approved standards and the actual needs of the colleges and branches.
With the file not being included on the agenda of Thursday’s session, the issue is once again coming to the fore, amid demands from professors to convert the promises they received into a government decision, and a clear warning that continued postponement may return the Lebanese University to the stage of strikes and movements.
