Monrovia, Jan. 2 -- The University of Liberia (UL) this week received its first batch of new armchairs from the civic group Voices of the Elders (VOTE), marking a major milestone in an ambitious effort to resolve the university's longstanding classroom seating shortage. "Operation Seat UL" - a massive six-month campaign led by VOTE, dedicated to securing 22,000 new classroom chairs to ensure that all 28,000 UL students across 233 classrooms on its four campuses finally have a seat to sit in during class, launched in November.

On Tuesday, VOTE delivered its first 100 chairs to UL during a ceremony in the Capitol Hill Auditorium. UL President Dr. Layli Maparyan accepted the chairs with enthusiasm and expressed gratitude to the Elders for t...