Contract Faculty at Lebanese University: We Will Not Accept Being Held Hostage to Delays and Stalling

The Contracted Faculty Committee at the Lebanese University held a sit-in at the Rafic Hariri University Campus – Al-Hadath, demanding the approval of the full-time status file.

The doctor Eli Lattouf read a statement outlining their demands, saying: "It is time for a decision... no more postponements from today. Gentlemen presidents, officials concerned with national and educational affairs, we address you today not only on behalf of the Contracted Faculty Committee at the Lebanese University, but also on behalf of every professor who has spent years serving this university and its students, and on behalf of every family that has long waited for justice, whose wait has been longer than it should have been. We address you from the heart of the Lebanese University, from which we come and to which we return, within whose embrace we belong. We are its children, we are guardians of its mission, and we seek nothing but its well-being, stability, and prosperity.

He added: "We have endured much... more than what was reasonable, more than what can be tolerated. We have endured years of work under harsh professional and living conditions, without job security, without clear guarantees for our future. Yet, we continued fulfilling our educational mission and maintained our commitment to our students and our university, because we believe education is a calling before it is a job. But our patience has run out. Yes, our patience has run out. The waiting has gone on too long, promises have been repeated, solutions postponed again and again, while our professional fate remains suspended in the wind of delay. It is no longer acceptable for the full-time status file to remain hostage to procrastination and stalling, while the contract professor awaits a decision that would end years of instability, after all they have given in dedication, effort, and commitment to serve the university and its students.

Lattouf emphasized that "the full-time status file is not merely an administrative matter or a concern exclusive to professors; it is a national and educational issue in the truest sense. Full-time status means stability for the professor, stability for the professor means stability for the university, and stability for the university means safeguarding the quality of education, protecting the future of students, and strengthening the Lebanese University's ability to fulfill its academic and national mission.

He called for "clear and firm action to approve the full-time status file in the upcoming session, without any further postponement and without additional excuses. It is time for a decision, time to end this prolonged waiting, time to move from promises to actual implementation. We also demand that all names be published in the official gazette, so that the chapter of waiting may finally close, and a door to stability may open for professors and the university alike, long overdue.

Lattouf concluded: "Resolving this file today is a step toward justice, a step toward enhancing trust and stability within the Lebanese University, and a step in supporting its ability to continue its academic and national mission. On the other hand, delay means only prolonging the suffering of professors, deepening instability, and leaving the future of the university and its faculty hanging on further waiting. We have waited long enough, we have been patient long enough, we have given much, and today we say clearly: It is time for a decision... no more postponements from today. The Lebanese University deserves stability, its professors deserve fairness, and its students deserve a stable university capable of continuing its mission."