The US-based Alumni Association of the University of Liberia (USAAUL), in partnership with its Liberian counterpart (AAUL), on Monday, September 16, 2019, donated a set of marching band, uniforms and an assortment of sporting materials to the administration of the University for use by the institution.

Presenting the items, on behalf of the AAUL in the Americas, alumnus Thomas Doe Nah, Liberia Revenue Authority Commission General, said the Alumni’s donation to the university lays the foundation for alumni’s contribution to be taken to higher height.

“Whether it’s multimillionaires that graduated from there, engineers, people come back home to give back because,” Mr. Nah said. “I can tell you I’m living on what I gained from the university.”

Alumnus Nah cautioned everyone to see the alumni’s contribution as an opportunity to galvanize university and alumni’s interest, declaring that every little support from alumni of the university counts, as it could lead to greater things.

Receiving the items for onward submission to the UL authorities, AAUL’s president, Mr. James S. Davis, II expressed excitement that alumni, having been prepared by the university, can now come back to give back to the institution for the development of the next generation of sports leaders.

Mr. Davis said AAUL-Liberia contributed twelve thousand United States dollars (12,000USD) towards the purchase of the items and noted that there was a need to resuscitate values that once represented the university, stating,

“We’re so excited to be able to always share in the welfare and excellence of our Alma mater.”

President Davis, who recounted the AAUL’s enormous contributions under his leadership, said his association stands ready at any time to give more back to the university.

He paid special tribute to his colleague Melvin Howard, who serves as president of the Alumni Association of the University of Liberia in the Americas, for his [Melvin’s] burning desire and hard work in lending support to the university.

Mr. Davis used the occasion to disclose the AAUL’s plans to contribute to the university’s annual budget in the not too distant future, saying the association has concluded arrangements to construct a multipurpose center for the university.

He said the AAUL-US will send a representative in October of this year to work with his association and the university will do an assessment for the construction.

“If that multipurpose center is constructed within the next five years, we hope that the university can get over hundred thousand dollars from there,” President Davis averred.

The building, expected to host about five thousand people, has been estimated at six hundred thousand United States dollars, the amount will be raised through different activities, Mr. Davis stated.

“As we celebrate the hundredth commencement convocation of the university, we want to identify hundred alumni or hundred institutions to commit themselves to give hundred dollars a month,” said Mr. Davis, disclosing that colleagues from the US would  be in Liberia in December for the official ground breaking ceremony for the construction of the multipurpose center.

He named a dinner ball and the honoring five faculties and staff as part of activities of the AAUL in December.

Receiving the items on behalf of the university, UL VP for Academic Affairs, Dr. William Ezra Allen, thanked the AAUL, saying,  “These items come at a time where we don’t only need them, but we are going to use them.”

Dr. Allen continued: “I recall you mentioned that you hope the jerseys will not go to rot just sitting down, but we have already had a scheduled game with Cuttington University. This is why I said that the items come at a very favorable time.”

VP Allen said the UL and Cuttington had a stiff rivalry in the 1980s. “We have been looking for a day that, that academic rivalry can be restored. What you have done today, you have stimulated, you have added fuel that will enable us to reactivate that rivalry.”

For her part, the Dean of Student, Mrs. Saydah Williamson-Taylor expressed enthusiasm for the items, but pleaded with the AAUL to consider increasing the capacity of the multipurpose facility from the five thousand to capacity fifteen thousand due to the enter university’s population.