UL Baccalaureate Was A Flop

…Rev. Simpson Wants Graduates Use Education for Nation

The 87th commencement baccalaureate of the University of Liberia was somehow a flop as a result of poor organization, which reduced the occasion to photo-taking affairs.

Panwhanpen who stopped by on the Main Campus of the University of Liberia to listen to the Baccalaureate sermon noticed that the service, which should have started11:AM, was delayed for almost an hour plus. It was scheduled to have begun with a procession of faculty and successful candidates for this commencement convocation, but the process was poorly arranged.

Seated later, some of the members of the graduating classes did not have a chance to view the podium or to listen to the baccalaureate sermon due to uncontrolled over-crowdedness of the UL Pavilion that hosted the service.

Journalists who went to cover the occasion were caught up in struggles for shots between the stage and the podium which Rev. Simpson and others spoke from without a public address system to transmit sound louder to the thousands of prospective graduates who swam the area along with their jubilant relatives, friends, spouses and/or well-wishers.

Panwhanpen observed lost of total orderliness and lack of quietude that should have characterized such occasion, as there ensued a struggle amongst the prospective graduates to hear speakers and the master of ceremony.

The ultimate thing that therefore resulted was the cornering of members of the graduating classes by photographers for shots, thereby reducing the entire campus to a photo taking gallery.
Speaking to the graduates, however, a Liberian cleric and educator, the Rev. Leo M. Simpson, on that Sunday, admonished the 2, 155 successful candidates of the classes of 2009 of the 87th Commencement Convocation of the University of Liberia to use their education to contribute to the process of nation-building.

He told members of the graduating classes to use self-control and sound reasoning as academicians to fast-track national development.

Bishop Simpson of the Pentecostal Assembly of the World (PAW), who delivered the baccalaureate sermon, further called on members of the classes to be careful and disciplined as they obtain their respective academic degrees. He was addressing more than 2, 155 prospective graduates from under-graduate and graduate schools of the University of Liberia.

“Education without discipline leads to anarchy. Education without discipline leads to disaster and crisis”, he said as he struggled to be audible in amidst of a poor sound system and an overcrowded baccalaureate service.

The PAW cleric and educator told the graduates that education is not a right in Liberia but rather a privilege. “There are thousands of your colleagues out there who do not have the opportunity to achieve education. Education in Liberia is not a right but a privilege,” Rev. Simpson said; writes Bill K. Jarkloh (www.panwhanpen.com) also billkjarkloh.wordpress.com