BEIRUT: Notre Dame University Thursday suspended student council elections after a fistfight erupted the day before between students of rival political parties, while Saint Joseph University announced that their vote has been canceled due to the country’s general climate.
“We have decided to stop the elections until we study situation further and make a final decision,” NDU’s Vice President for Public Affairs Souheir Matar told The Daily Star.
The scuffle broke out between student supporters of the Lebanese Forces and rival Free Patriotic Movement when members of the latter group held up banners that called for a change to the election law, two days before a student council vote was scheduled to take place.
The FPM students also reportedly played speeches of party leader Michel Aoun over a loudspeaker.
LF students, agitated over what they viewed as a provocation, confronted their rivals before a brawl ensued.
Matar said those involved in the fighting represented but a tiny faction of the student body.
“Among the 7,500 students at NDU, 20 to 30 students can easily distort the university’s image,” he said.
“But I would like to stress that we are not at all against political activism,” he said. “We work to teach students about political culture and to have a critical and logical approach to politics.”
Separately Thursday USJ released a statement announcing that its board of directors had decided in a meeting Wednesday to “suspend student council elections for the current academic year.”
“The board considers the political and security situation in the country, which have repercussions inside the campus, to be unsuitable for organizing such elections,” the statement said.
The tense climate will prevent students from “positively practicing the values of democracy and citizenship,” the administration argued.
Campus violence during student elections in Lebanon are common at most universities. Army soldiers are usually dispatched at university entrances during student elections to help maintain security.
LF leader Samir Geagea Thursday denounced the violence at NDU, but also criticized the principle of canceling elections.
“What happened yesterday is not political activism and does not suit our society and people,” Geagea posted on his Twitter account.
"Despite the delicacy of the situation [in the country], we should keep the social and political life inside universities," he added.
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