2007年VOA标准英语-Liberia's Education System Faces Obstacles

By Naomi Schwarz
Dakar
10 May 2007

One of Africa's oldest universities has been shut down for more than a month. Administrators¹ of Liberia's Cuttington University closed the school after students held protests saying the school was taking their money, but failing to provide promised services.  Naomi Schwarz has more on the story from Dakar, with additional reporting from Prince Collins in Monrovia.

University students traveled long distances to protest in Monrovia

Angry students from Cuttington University say they want to go back to class. They traveled from central Liberia, where Cuttington University is located, to Monrovia to bring their story to officials in the capital. 

The students say that when they registered for classes, the university charged additional fees for textbooks and Internet service.

But the Internet is not available on campus, and the library does not have the textbooks they need.  When the students began to protest, university administrators shut down the school.

"Four weeks into the semester we were faced with serious concerns," said Yuwah Nemah, president of the student government.  "These concerns include services that were paid for and were not rendered by the administration to the students, thereby² creating an unhealthy educational environment."

The university has been closed for more than a month, and some students are now worried they will not be able to graduate on time.

Nemah says the administration was wrong to close the university.

"This decision is not in the best interests of the students, because we paid the fees and we expected to be in school," he added.  "We were not benefiting from certain circumstances, when we raised questions, the university took the bold step to shut down the university."

Founded by Episcopal missionaries³ in 1821, Cuttington University is one of Africa's oldest private schools.  It is also the second biggest university in Liberia behind the University of Monrovia.

1 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

2 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

3 missionaries   

n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Some missionaries came from England in the Qing Dynasty. 清朝时，从英国来了一些传教士。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The missionaries rebuked the natives for worshipping images. 传教士指责当地人崇拜偶像。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》