University guards to become law enforcers

AMMAN — Security personnel at the Kingdom’s universities will be granted the authority of law enforcement as stipulates a new amendment to the Universities Law, a government official said on Sunday.

Government Spokesperson Mohammad Momani told reporters that the Cabinet endorsed the amendment as part of a national plan to curb violence in the country’s higher education institutions.

Last year witnessed several violent acts at several public and private universities, prompting the Ministry of Higher Education to meet with university presidents last November and come up with a plan that seeks to curb the phenomenon.

They proposed increasing community service hours and forge partnerships with the private sector to employ students and engage them in other activities.

In addition, they proposed amending the law, granting security personnel at the Kingdom’s universities the authority of law enforcement.

According to study published recently by the Jordanian Political Science Association, campus brawls registered from 2010 to 2013 involved 3,999 students.

Most of the students involved in the fights (89 per cent) were from faculties of humanities and almost all were males, noted the study.