The University of Liberia (UL), the nation’s flagship institution of higher learning, continues to grapple with deteriorating infrastructure and unhygienic conditions, prompting the Student Unification Party (SUP) to announce plans for a mass protest demanding complete renovation of the campuses. According to SUP leaders, repeated public outcries and past student demonstrations have done little to address the worsening state of the university’s facilities. They claim that years of neglect have left the Capitol Hill, Fendall, and other UL campuses in a state of disrepair, posing serious health and safety risks to thousands of students. During a guarded inspection of the Capitol Hill main campus earlier this week, SUP’s Propaganda Chairman, Polay Emmanuel Nyei, expressed deep frustration over what he described as “filthy and ruinous” learning environments. Nyei pointed to uncollected garbage, broken classroom furniture, leaking roofs, dilapidated restrooms, and overgrown vegetation as evidence of neglect. “This is a shame to the Republic,” Nyei declared. “The University of Liberia should be a center of excellence, yet it has been reduced to an eyesore. Students are forced to learn in conditions unfit for human dignity. Enough is enough we will not sit idly by while our future is destroyed.” In response to these conditions, SUP has called on all UL students to join a peaceful mass protest on Monday, August 18, 2025, at the Capitol Hill campus. The protest aims to demand immediate and comprehensive renovation of all university facilities, improved sanitation services, and the allocation of adequate budgetary support from the government. SUP leaders say the protest will serve as a wake-up call to both the UL administration and national authorities, urging them to take urgent action to restore the institution’s infrastructure. “We have written letters, we have engaged the authorities, but the situation remains unchanged,” Nyei said. “This protest is the voice of students rising to reclaim the dignity of our university.” The Student Unification Party also emphasized that the protest will be peaceful and within the confines of the law, but warned that continued inaction could lead to heightened demonstrations in the future. The University of Liberia, established in 1862, is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in West Africa and serves as the academic home to thousands of students from across Liberia. However, chronic underfunding and delayed maintenance have left much of its infrastructure in a near-derelict state. The planned protest on August 18 is expected to draw significant attention from both the public and policymakers, as students seek to secure meaningful reforms for the country’s premier university.
