The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

COLLEGE of the Bahamas Union of Students President Keyron Smith yesterday demanded a “formal apology” from the college after he said President Dr Rodney Smith “portrayed an incorrect image” of students to the press.

On Wednesday in an interview with NB12, Dr Smith addressed the matter of extremely long payment lines at COB’s campus this week. The deadline for payment for classes for the Spring 2016 semester was Monday.

Students complained of waiting on lines for more than 12 hours on Monday, some leaving the campus at midnight. They were later told to return to the school the next day to make payments and would not be charged a late fee, however FNM Leader Dr Hubert Minnis has said this decision was only made after he called Dr Smith about the students’ complaints.

The COB president told reporters that students were given a month to pay fees and they also had the opportunity to pay their bills online, which would have made the wait shorter.

However, COBUS said the information from Dr Smith was misleading.

“President Smith stated that students have the option to pay online, however scholarship and deferred payment students did not have this option, who make up the majority of students affected on January 4,” the COBUS’ statement said.

“All scholarship students must pay the remaining balance of their bills at the cashier’s cage on the college campus. The online payment does not allow for partial payment of fees and can only be used by students prepared to pay their tuition fees in full. We are disappointed in the incorrect image being portrayed of the students, particularly those on scholarships and utilizing deferred payment.”

The COBUS president said after Dr Smith’s press statement, the college president “acknowledged” to him that the events that occurred on January 4 illustrated poor planning by the college.

“We acknowledged and commend the college faculty and staff who remained after hours to assist whomever they could,” the statement said.

“However, the College of the Bahamas union of Students (is) requesting a formal apology to the student body from the college and would like the public to be better informed of what happened.”

The statement also said the student body will recommend solutions to prevent situations like this from happening in the future.