Maan university suspends 11 students involved in brawl

AMMAN — The King Hussein Bin Talal University in Maan, 220km south Amman, suspended 11 students for involvement in a brawl that took place in April this year, a university official said on Monday.

Ali Qaisi, the president of the university, said the students took part in a “massive fight” and the imposed penalties were even reduced after by council of deans.

The suspension periods range from one to four semesters,  Qaisi told The Jordan Times without elaborating on the reason behind the fight.

He noted that the university administration will not accept any interference to lower the penalty.

He noted that the brawl, which took place in April, was the first since 2013, when the university, among other higher education institutions, witnessed a series of on-campus fights, mostly on the backdrop of tribal bickering.

On-campus fights registered from 2010 to 2013 in the Kingdom’s universities involved 3,999 students, and resulted in 31 severe, 57 moderate and 155 minor injuries, in addition to property damage. 

“Thus, we are imposing these penalties to prevent the recurrence of such incidents,” the university president said.

Meanwhile, he said the university is still suffering financially with JD11 million deficits in this year’s budget. The government only allocated JD9.6 million for the university during this academic year, he noted.

Currently, there are 6,200 students studying at the King Hussein University, a drop from 9,750 students in 2012.

The violent scenes in the university are blamed for the decreasing enrolment rate.