Adama Science and Technology University (ASTU) is a public university and one of the two Science And Technology Universities of Ethiopia. ASTU was first established in 1993 as Nazareth Technical College (NTC).
Adama Science and Technology University Campus
ASTU was first established in 1993 as Nazareth Technical College (NTC), offering degree and diploma level education in technology fields. Later, the institution was renamed as Nazareth College of Technical Teacher Education (NCTTE), a self-explanatory label that describes what the institution used to train back then: candidates who would become technical teachers for TVET colleges/Schools across the country.
In 2003, a new addition to NCTTE came about-introduction of business education. Nonetheless, the new entries were solely meant for similar purposes: these graduates were also expected to help overcome the existing dearth of educators in vocational institutions. However, it was not until it was nominated by the Ministry of Education as Center of Excellence in Technology in 2008 that it opened various programs in applied engineering and technology.
ASTU-EDC: Fostering Entrepreneurship and Innovation
ASTU-EDC, or the Entrepreneurship Development Center of Adama Science and Technology University, is a center that supports entrepreneurship and innovation in Ethiopia. The center's mission is to foster a culture of entrepreneurship in the university and the community and to help create and grow businesses that can address the social and economic challenges of the country.
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It offers business incubation and technology transfer services to students, innovators, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in various fields of science and technology. ASTU-EDC was established in 2012 as part of the Ethiopian Entrepreneurship Development Program, a national initiative funded by the Ministry of Education and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
Since then, ASTU-EDC has served more than 3,000 individuals through its training and incubation programs. It has helped four teams win the National Business Competitions: Halib Toothpaste, Green Ethiopia, BamGo, and SOZO Team. The center was led by Mr. Solomon Dufera Tolcha.
Content & Conflict: The Case of Ethiopia
Challenges Faced by Ethiopian Universities
For decades, the clash between students at universities has witnessed many ethnic-based conflicts which many observers claim it to be the weakness of the administering body. An ethnic-based conflict between Addis Ababa University (AAU) students following derogatory graffiti posted on toilet-walls and library walls has left half a dozen students with severe injuries while others had faced arrest. Likewise, the Wednesday [January 2] conflict was particularly between those from the ethnic lines of Oromo and Tigre.
An official of Addis Ababa University alleged the “conflict was instigated by students who found derogatory statements posted on the wall”. Some 20 students were reportedly injured in the incident and three hospitalized including two who underwent surgery.
My initial reaction reading this report about Ethiopia’s “best and brightest” was sheer disbelief. “This just can’t be true. It is beneath the dignity of Ethiopia’s Cheetah Generation (young people) to engage in such a cowardly and dastardly act. My certitude slowly gave way to gnawing disquietude.
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I asked myself, “Supposing the inflammatory graffiti and “derogatory statements” were written by bona fide AAU students? What would such a vile, gutless and vulgar act say about these students? About the injured students who reacted with righteous indignation? About the AAU student body? About all Ethiopian university students?
As I wrestled with these questions, I was overcome by an irrepressible feeling of shame and ignominy. I kept interrogating myself, “How is it even possible for Ethiopia’s best and brightest - Ethiopia’s Cheetahs - to engage in such backward, barbaric, cruel, vicious and villainous act? Why would one group of young Ethiopian university students deliberately plan and scheme to dehumanize, demoralize, demonize, degrade and brutalize another? Why? Why?
I put aside my roiled emotions and paused to think, and think really hard. What evidence is there to factually establish the “ethnic-based conflict” was the work of a bona fide AAU “student”? Who really is the alleged “student” who put up the offensive “graffiti and derogatory statements”? Must we believe the story line about the incident concocted by a wily university public relations desk jokey?
How is it that Ethiopian “universities have witnessed many ethnic-based conflicts for decades” and continue to witness them with predictable regularity? My preliminary analysis of the circumstantial evidence on who is responsible for the “ethnic-based conflict” at the AAU campus points exclusively at the usual suspects.
A summary review of the uncontroverted evidence supports this conclusion. First, a single “student” is officially blamed for causing the incident. This factually negates the existence of an organized hate group of students of one ethnic group engaged in the persecution of another and intent on causing ethnic strife, dissension and discord on campus.
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Second, the identity, background and affiliation (ethnic and otherwise) of the “student” who is said to be responsible for the criminal act has not been factually established. University officials fingered an unidentified student as being responsible. But is this “student” a bona fide student or a regime undercoveragent provocateur masquerading as a student?
Third, no motive has been established for the “student” who put up the graffiti and derogatory statements in multiple locations including the “walls of toilets, the library and in his own dormitory as well.” In hate crime situations, when derogatory graffiti are directed toward a group, they are usually displayed in locations likely to be seen by the target group and intended to spark random expressions of outrage.
Fifth, the January 2 hate crime incident on the AAU campus cannot be seen as an isolated incident. The fact that periodic and recurrent campus hate crimes have been occurring “for decades” on Ethiopian university campuses is uncontro- verted. Why haven’t university officials taken swift and decisive action to prevent campus hate crimes with full foreknowledge of the occurrence of such incidents?
Is the lack of action and intervention by university officials evidence of official tolerance, complicity, indifference and/or gross incompetence in the investigation and prevention of the occurrence of campus hate crimes? Sixth, why did AAU officials publicly announce, without a full and independent fact finding investigation, that the “conflict was instigated by students who found derogatory statements posted on the wall”?
Why haven’t AAU officials empaneled an internal and/or outside independent investigation to thoroughly examine the causes and participants in the hate crime and make recommendations to prevent such incidents in the future? Why have university officials left this incident entirely to the police?
In short, the totality of the circumstantial evidence on the hate crime committed on the AAU campus does not point an accusatory finger at students. The evidence points an accusatory finger at an invisible hand.
It is written that “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” There is a time to weep, a time to mourn, a time to cast away stones. There is a time to build up and a time to speak up. Then there is a time to embrace, a time for peace and a time to heal.
This is the time - the right time - for Ethiopia’s young people to heal in the schools, universities, the work places, the neighborhoods and in the streets. This is the right time for Ethiopia’s youth to lock fingers and join hands to heal the open wounds of fear, loathing and antagonism in their hearts, minds and souls.
This the right time to stop seeing fellow students as enemies and adversaries. It is the right time to make peace and embrace each other as brothers, sisters and partners. This is the time for Ethiopia’s best and brightest to work together for a better future, to dream of alternative futures built on a solid foundation of the rule of law, respect for human rights and democracy.
As Nelson Mandela taught, “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. This is the right time to unite against hate and hate crimes on and off campus. It is the right time to purge hatred from our minds and hearts; the right time to break the chains of fear that shackle and cripple young minds and hearts.
This is the right time for all of Ethiopia’s young people to bury the hatchet, to declare once and for all, “No! We refuse to hate each other because we belong to one ethnic group or another. No! we refuse to hate each other because we worship the same God by a different name or live in different corners of the land. No! We WILL NOT be manipulated or puppet-mastered to hate each other. We will not hate because we are civilized humans.
This is also the right time not to do the wrong thing. This is the wrong time to engage in finger-pointing, teeth-gnashing, bellyaching or revenge planning. This is the wrong time to demonize and scapegoat one group of students as predatory beasts and disempower another group as helpless and hopeless prey.
Many young Cheetahs may find it amusing to listen to a member of the Hippo Generation. Be the first generation to say No! Can they teach us to create ethnic harmony out of ethnic strife, understanding out of intolerance? Can Ethiopia’s Cheetah teach us the art of reconciliation? Can they enlighten us on the science of reconciliation? Can they show us the path to reconciliation?
Can Ethiopia’s best and brightest come together as one Youth Force and make 2013 the Year of Ethiopian Cheetahs? When I “proclaimed” 2013 as the Year of Ethiopia’s Cheetah Generation last week, I promised to reach, teach and preach to Ethiopia’s youth. Little did I think about the possibility of Cheetahs reaching, teaching and preaching to me and my fellow Hippos. (That is why we Hippos are astigmatic (have distorted view) and myopic (near-sighted and narrow-minded; natural hazards of being a Hippo).
So Ethiopia’s Cheetahs and Hippos face an enormous challenge. The challenge for the Cheetah’s is they must now teach the Hippos the art of reconciliation. So I call upon the young men who were involved in the incident at Addis Ababa University and their friends and all of the other students to transform this ugly moment of conflict and strife on their campus into a beautiful moment of reconciliation.
I ask them to reach out to each other and ask forgiveness. I call on them to come together on their own - one-on-one, in small and large groups - and discuss their differences. Try to feel each other’s pain and anguish. I ask them to talk to each other with open minds, open hearts and open spirits. I ask them to listen to each other’s concerns, fears, hopes and despair.
I ask them to walk a mile in the shoes of their fellow students. Let January 2, 2013 be remembered in all history as the day Ethiopia’s university students buried the hatchets of ethnic division, religious sectarianism and gender inequality.
I ask Ethiopia’s Cheetah Generation to lead the Hippo Generation. Do not follow us, for we know not where we are going. To everything there is a season, a time. Ethiopia’s Cheetahs! Professor Alemayehu G.
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