UJ students defy newly issued overnight ban

AMMAN — Around 27 University of Jordan (UJ) protesters on Tuesday were referred to the university administration for violating orders issued by the university administration earlier this week, a UJ official said.

As the sit-in at UJ continues to demand the reversal of a decision to raise tuition fees for the parallel and post-graduate programmes, the university’s council of deans banned protesters from staying on campus after the university gates are closed at midnight.

The university’s deanship of student affairs announced they are starting an investigation to further question students who stayed overnight on campus after the administration issued the new ban.

However, many students continued their sit-in and stayed on campus after midnight, which the university administration described as “irresponsible” and “chaotic”.

Ahmad Mustafa, one of the protesters, said the student union disapproves of the decision announced by the university’s deanship of student affairs.

Protesters said they were allowed to continue their protest and said the former president had assured them that no measures would be taken against them as long as the protest is peaceful.

“Many pledges were made by the board of trustees and the House Educational not to refer any student to an investigation,” said a fourth year student, who preferred anonymity.

Mustafa added that the demands of protesters are “legitimate”, adding that the students organised “peaceful” protests over the past month. 

The protest was suspended on March 18 in response to a decision by the board of trustees and the Higher Education Council, which agreed to gradually scrap the hike on tuition fees, but it was resumed when officials failed to response to students’ demand of a detailed time frame for the implementation of the decision.

The raise on tuition fees was slashed by half in the most recent board of trustees’ meeting and students were promised to be provided with a schedule of the remaining percentage around two weeks ago.

In previous remarks to The Jordan Times, Azmi Mahafza, who is the university’s caretaker president, said the university’s administration issued the decision to ban students from staying overnight on campus, for “safety reasons” and that students are allowed to protest during the working hours, which end when the library closes at midnight. 

On Tuesday, the UJ media office issued a statement saying that two “drunken students” entered the campus after midnight Monday to stay overnight. The security arrested them and referred them to a nearby police station. 

The students union called upon students from all faculties at the university to join the rally on Tuesday in front of the administration building during evening hours, according to protesters.