Ammon News - AMMAN (Petra) – The National Union Party NUP on Saturday called for a national conference, involving academics, sociologists and psychologists, to address a recent spike in deadly campus violence.

This followed a shooting last month during a scuffle at Al Hussein Ibn Talal University in the southern city of Maan in which four people were killed and about two dozens injured, triggering a public outcry and calls for prompt and serious action by authorities to stem the violence.

In a memo to Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, NUP President MP Mohammad al Khushman proposed that the gathering of experts should develop recommendations "that could be turned into feasible mechanisms whose outcome will be to root out this phenomenon in our universities." He further called for a departure from the "regional universities" model to the "social integration" concept operating on the basis of cultural and knowledge exchange so universities would not be inward looking, adding that narrow identities and divisions should not be placed above the "all-encompassing national identity".

While Khushman admitted "there's no magic bullet to put an end to violence", he proposed a law enforcement system tied to the university's presidency, not to any other security body, since universities had become small societies that have their own problems.

"This warrants a new, strong security method in our society, since rioters exist alongside those seeking to promote knowledge and education," he added.