Earlier on we spoke with University President Dr. Corinth Morter Lewis who told us she was disappointed with what happened yesterday on the university campus. And, we take heed of her words because Dr. ewis has a singular perspective; few remember that she was a vice principal at the Belize Technical College in March of 1981 when students led the riots against the Heads of Agreement. And now she is President of the University of Belize where again student activists organized the Wednesday, April 20th protest that culminated in the greatest event of civil unrest that the country has seen since 1981. We asked Dr. Lewis to share that perspective and the lesson that's in it for higher learning.
Dr. Corinth Morter Lewis, UB President
"Just as you said I was here in '81 and I am now here in 2005 where we are having some of the same kind of dynamics booming and building. Our job is to act as a voice of reason, a voice of calm, but a voice that allows people to express what they feel and how they feel. In 1981 when the students had the voice, they had a rally to be out there, we did not stop them. We did not tell them they could not but we did not lead them; we didn't tell them how they should do it. We told them what the facts were and the rest was left to them. Now they make certain decisions and they made certain moves and they moved in certain ways. When a student body gets together, no administration can stop them. When a community gets together, as a university community, no administration can stop them."
Jules Vasquez,
You weren't here on Wednesday when Moses went from school to school along the corridor of the Princess Margaret Drive encouraging students to leave the classroom and to come out and protest. It must have been an eerie sense of deja vue.
Dr. Corinth Morter Lewis,
"Basically it is deja vue and Moses could have been acting on, it happened before, and this is perhaps another opportunity to rally students together for a cause in which he believes. I think there is a difference in this particular move. The revolt at that time was not direct against...it was almost something external at that point. This move tends to be internal in the sense that we are looking at student reaction to our government. The impact of perhaps what happens at the end something like this will be very different from the impact of what happened in 1981."
Firebrand student activist Moses Sulph sits on the UB Board with Dr. Lewis.
