‘Under-depositing’ at UB?

Board Claims It Was Misinformed About the Money

As we go to press tonight, we do so with the distinct impression that there is something not quite right going on behind closed doors at the University of Belize. Today, at a press conference held at the Belmopan Convention Hotel, the UB Board Chair and Minister’s Representative Imani Fairweather Morrison made a stunning, unexpected and frankly baffling claim. According to Mrs. Fairweather-Morrison, the Board has decided to back down, at least for the time being, from its decisions to freeze teacher’s increments and increase tuition – but that’s not the stunning part, really. Mrs. Fairweather-Morrison went on to state that they were ‘misinformed’ about the financial situation of the University of Belize.

For the past week, since information was sent out from the Board that teachers’ increments would be frozen for three years and that students tuition fees would go up by a monumental 500%, the UB community has been in an uproar. On Wednesday, more than 100 students and faculty members from the Belmopan campus gathered to voice their dissatisfaction with the Board’s arbitrary decision to freeze increments. The stance of the students in particular was a rock-solid one – they simply could not afford to pay more fees, end of story. From that gathering yesterday, it was decided that the Board of Trustees would meet with the faculty and students today, Thursday at the UB gymnasium at 1:00pm.

But the Board of Trustees never did show. What they did was to call a press conference at the Belmopan Convention Hotel without informing the faculty or students of the venue. It was there that Mrs. Fairweather-Morrison made her stunning proclamation. And in addition to the ‘misinformation’ about the money, the Chair of the Board of Trustees also claims that the proposed increase in tuition fees was only an idea, a concept which was being thrown around by the Board and was not any concrete plan.

But the more than 100 UB students who managed to pack their way into the Convention Hotel’s conference room didn’t buy that for a second. In fact, they didn’t seem to buy anything the Board was claiming. The consensus from the students is that the Board is just buying time right now until it can find some way to ram the increase in tuition down their throats again. In fact, the students have issued an ultimatum of their own. While the Board has said that it will suspend any increment freeze or increase in tuition until a comprehensive review of the finances is completed, the students want more. They want a commitment from the Board that it will back off, and not only suspend, its ‘former’ plans. They have given the Board a deadline – midday on September 20^th – to call off any plans for an increment freeze or tuition increase.

So as we go to press today, the situation is still very volatile and the students and faculty of the University of Belize are far from happy but will keep their peace, at least until the 20^th. But with that aside, there are serious issues with the Board’s announcement that they were misinformed about the finances of UB. Board Chair Imani Fairweather-Morrison did not go into details, but would say only that they did not have accurate knowledge of the financial status of the University and would have to undertake a comprehensive review before taking any decision.

We’re not exactly sure if the financial situation at UB is the result of under-reporting, under-depositing or is merely a smokescreen. The UB Chair has said that whoever was responsible for the ‘misinformation’ will face disciplinary action. It is interesting to note that the Minister of Education Patrick Faber has been silent throughout.

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