Yarmouk University Student Union cancels strike but plans sit-in

AMMAN — Yarmouk University's students union announced on Saturday that it has cancelled plans for an open-ended strike and will stage a sit-in on Sunday instead to press for its demands.

Last week, the union said the university's administration had "turned a deaf ear" to its demands for an online course registration programme and to extend the library’s opening hours to 8pm.

In a statement to The Jordan Times, the union said it had also requested that air conditioning or fans be installed in classrooms. In addition, the union wants graduation ceremonies to be held at the university stadium instead of the gymnasium, where they have been held for decades, and to open campus parking garages for students’ cars. 

In the statement, the union's president, Ahmad Zghoul, was quoted as saying that the university's administration has been "ignoring and procrastinating [students’] legitimate demands and has pushed them to resort to the strike".  

In another statement on Saturday, the union said it will organise a sit-in on Sunday, adding that the decision to cancel the strike was taken after a poll showed the majority of students preferred not to strike. 

Yarmouk University, in the northern city of Irbid, has seen no large-scale sit-ins or strikes since the 1980s, unlike the University of Jordan (UJ) or Mutah University in Karak. 

From late February to April, UJ students staged protests on campus against the hike in tuition fees for the parallel programme and post-graduate studies, by 100 to 180 per cent, with UJ alumni and students from other universities joining the demonstrations in a show of support.

UJ students ended their sit-in in response to a decision by the university's board of trustees to lower the fees for the two programmes.