13/09/2022
Bishop Samuel J. Quire, Jr., Resident Bishop of the Liberia Episcopal Area of the United Methodist Church and Chairman of the UMU Board of Directors, Madam Theresa Davis, Acting Lay Leader and Acting Associate Chairperson of the UMU Board of Directors, Board Members, Vice Presidents, Faculty, Staff, Students, and Members of the Press.I bring your greetings on behalf of the University and my family who are upholding me and supporting my services at this noble institution.Today marks the fifteenth (15th) days since we hosted 18th Commencement Convocation during which we graduated 1,337 students from the United Methodist University of Liberia in various disciplines. Minutes after that unique event which was also graced by the President of the Republic of Liberia, His Excellency Dr. George Manneh Weah as the Commencement Speaker and an honoree upon whom the University conferred a degree of Doctor of Humanities (H. D.), the internet (Social Media) was riddled with all kinds of false information about the number of graduates and the percentage of individuals who graduated from the UMU with honors. Not only that, the information was shared across the various platforms of friends and relatives who we considered as our stakeholders and partners in the educational landscape of Liberia.As a result of this false information, our partners, stakeholders, and students got concerned about this falsehood that was trending on social media, especially Facebook (Meta) as it is officially known. The information was trending so fast that individual who were sharing it with their friends were not even concern about the authenticity of the information; they just wanted to be a part of the team that sent it to their friends. The critics of the 18th Commencement Convocation (or whatever name you may want to call them), did not only focus on the number of honorees, but also on the venue of the event and the time it took some of our graduates to get home.Ladies and gentlemen of the press, we are constrained to address this falsehood about our institution not because we want to engage in dialogue with our accusers, but because we want bring to your attention that the social media is a place for artistic individuals to sell themselves to cheapest minds that will consume their products without question or discernment. It took us this long to react because we knew that was their way of engaging us into the kind of unorthodox way they operate.Here are the facts about the 18th Commencement Convocation of the United Methodist University of Liberia.Honorary Degree Recipients - Two Persons Number of graduates - 1,337 Students in various disciplinesNumber of honored students - 114 at various levelsContrary to the false information that 92% of the total number graduates were honored students, the actual percent was 8.5 or 9% depending on how you would prefer to work the math. Several media institutions including the Executive Mansion Press Corps narrated the 18th Commencement Convocation in various styles that none of our social medial actors quoted in their various posts. These individuals completely ignored the August 31, 2022, editions of the Daily Observer and the News Newspaper and went on to publish their own stories about the United Methodist University graduation.According to one of this falsehood posts, 350 of our graduating students were honored, Summa Cum Laude, 500 students were honored Magna Cum Laude, and 375 students were honored Cum Laude. According to that post, only 100 students graduated regularly. This post puts our total number of graduates at 1,325 students. This is where the 92% of our graduates receiving honors came from. Whatever or whoever is behind this kind of misinformation needs to understand that the academic community that we are a part of will not take their falsehood at face-value. They will look deeper just as students and other academicians will do before reaching a logical conclusion.Let me conclude this Press Statement by calling on our friends and partners in the media, that we are available to share with you all information concerning the University and to provide clarity where necessary. We accept the fact that the world is becoming so narrow because of internet which is the vehicle of social media, but we value the authenticity of information that is shared about the UMU and its people. We will there not deal with these kinds of social media posts which will reduce the UMU to the level of conducted its business on the social media. Let it be known that we will use the social media in the most valuable and truthful way to conduct our business with our stakeholders, partners, and students where necessary. Thank You!!!
