A delegation of contracted teachers visited Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi at the patriarchal basilica in Diman, discussing their suffering due to the lack of approval for their tenure files. According to a statement, "Al-Rahi addressed the teachers saying that he is aware of their situation, their pain, and the instability they are experiencing. He promised to communicate tomorrow with Minister of Education in the caretaker government Abbas Halabi and with the President of the Lebanese University Bassam Badran to elevate the file for approval at the Cabinet table."
They then handed him a letter stating: "We come to you today with words of thanks and appreciation for your support in these difficult circumstances faced by the contracted teachers at the Lebanese University. We have come to you, Your Eminence, because in your position you are the steadfast bastion defending Lebanon's message throughout the ages. Since the Lebanese University is the institution that embraces all segments and regions of the Lebanese people, it is a bright face of Lebanon's message, of freedom, and the common life spoken of by Pope John Paul II, where the experience of shared living takes shape, serving as a lesson for the world.
And because the Lebanese University is facing an existential threat that jeopardizes its continuity, turning it into a mere memory if we do not rush to save it immediately, we have come to you today bearing a message of truth that protects the university professor if they are granted tenure at the university, ensuring their family protection on one hand and preserving their dignity on the other. The university of sixty-eight thousand students, professors, employees, and administrators is threatened, and risks loom over it despite significant achievements, as its professors are leaving and migrating to places from which there is no return."
The letter continued: "All this is due to sectarian quotas in the approval of the decree granting tenure to its professors. The tenure files for its contracted professors, who have been wronged for years and been deprived of their basic rights to tenure for their students and their university, remain stuck in the drawers of political wrangling. Approval of the tenure file is the fundamental door to the university's continuation by pumping some vital blood into its veins and restoring its spirit. Our Father, Your Eminence the Patriarch, we request your support for our cause and the protection of our families, and we ask you to do everything necessary to maintain our university: Our Lebanon, where the national university has a leading role in its message, is nearly fading away, so do not allow that, do not permit the Lebanese University to fall by a knock-out blow. Tenure now and immediately, or peace be upon the university."
