Over the past few weeks academic experts along with university professors have been warning authorities — with an alarmist tone — about current instability in the country's universities. In fact, since February 2011, when Hosni Mubarak stepped down as president following a nationwide revolt, academics have been genuinely worried about universities. They say chaos has struck the country's governmental and private universities and the potential for a wider outbreak of violence increases. In an attempt to contain the anger of students over attacks by thugs and even on-campus deaths, President Mohamed Morsi met on 4 April representatives of student unions. During the two-hour meeting Morsi said students' rights were not subject to compromise. “It is the government's responsibility to provide students with proper services on all levels. Academic achievement is the only way to advance in Egypt,” Morsi told the students. Among other things, students discussed with the president the budget allocated for scientific research, the rise in the cost of textbooks as well as the security of campuses. The president promised to consider all their concerns and follow them up personally. Last week, clashes erupted between students, security forces and thugs after more than 100 students at Al-Azhar University were hospitalised for food poisoning. The Health Ministry sent 13 ambulances to the university. According to a ministry press release, none of the students died. Hundreds of students blocked Nasr Road late on Monday in protest against the incident. Students chanted slogans against Al-Azhar Grand Imam Ahmed Al-Tayeb, just as they did after a similar mass food poisoning case on 1 April. Police were forced to use tear gas to disperse students who demanded the dismissal of Al-Tayeb and the appointment of another president to the university. Immediately after the incident, the prosecution-general started an investigation. Meanwhile, President Morsi sent Minister of Health and Population Mustafa Hamed along with the president's assistant Ayman Ali to visit ill students. Academic work has been suspended at a number of Egypt's universities following clashes at Cairo, Ain Shams, Alexandria and Mansoura universities between protesting students and thugs, with the state of restlessness prevailing at many universities across the country mirroring the lack of security and uncertainty in the country as a whole. There have been episodes of attacks on students at both public and private universities, reflecting similar episodes outside university walls. The irony is that while universities are supposed to help nurture dialogue between people of different political views, they have today turned into battlegrounds. Demands from students at many universities came to the fore during this week's protests and following protests among students two weeks ago at what they said were attacks by thugs, on-campus deaths and the destruction of property before student union elections. Hundreds of students marched from Cairo University in Giza to the Ministry of Higher Education calling for the sacking of minister Mustafa Mosaad and the head of the Supreme Council of Private Universities Gamal Nawara. Students have been demanding better security at university campuses, as well as better health services and food for students living in university dormitories. The protesters referred to the food poisoning incident last month at an Al-Azhar University dormitory, where more than 500 students were hospitalised after eating tainted food. Violence at universities has been identified as a serious security problem, and the students have been protesting at what they say has been the failure of university administrations to deal with it. Al-Azhar University students protested on 27 April in Nasr City against the University administration, saying that this had been responsible for the death of Ahmed Al-Baz, an engineering student who had died at the University's clinic earlier. Ibrahim Moselhi, Al-Baz's colleague, said that “Al-Baz had been suffering from high fever for three days, but each time he went to the clinic the doctors carelessly prescribed him anti-fever medicine without examining him. Then the doctors claimed he had died of a heart attack.” Mohamed Abbas, another colleague, denied that al-Baz had died of a heart attack. “I was with Al-Baz at the clinic. The clinic had no proper medicine. The doctors working there were not efficient. Their negligence was the direct cause of Al-Baz's death,” he said. The Al-Azhar University Student Union issued a statement condemning what it called the negligence and corruption at the university. “Students have recurrently informed the University administration about the poor medical services provided to them due to a lack of proper equipment,” the statement read. According to the Union statement, “the university was informed of Al-Baz's life-threatening condition, but his illness was not taken seriously by the university clinic doctor, who claimed he was stable and did not need to be moved to a hospital for better medical care.” Hundreds of students participated in the protests that followed Al-Baz's death, holding university Vice President Tawfik Mohamed responsible for negligence. The union demanded an urgent investigation, stressing the need to provide adequate medical care to students. A nationwide protest will take place on Saturday, bringing together students from across the country in protest at conditions at Egypt's universities. On 25 April, dozens of Cairo University students demonstrated in protest against what they described as the poor services provided to them by the university. Students blocked the road in front of the university for several hours, causing traffic jams for at least five hours. The protesting students, who demanded a swift investigation into the deficiencies of the university facilities, demanded the implementation of Student Union regulations. Ali Leila, a professor of sociology at Ain Shams University in Cairo, said that the clashes between university students and thugs from outside were unsurprising in this context. “Society is suffering from a state of laxity. Universities are small communities that reflect the outside society. There are part and parcel of the outside community,” he said. Although the university administration had planned to implement a comprehensive security system at Ain Shams, recruiting professional guards as well as installing electronic gates, “resorting to these measures cannot be expected to terminate on-campus clashes and the state of instability,” Leila said. The recent student union elections, conducted across the country's public universities, also ignited student anger. They saw unexpectedly large voter turnout, with high levels of participation from independent and previously apolitical students, who contested seats at faculty level. At the Faculty of Pharmacy at Ain Shams University, the Muslim Brotherhood won only nine seats out of 70, while the independent Khatwa Bloc gained 60. At the faculties of medicine and engineering, the Muslim Brotherhood also performed poorly. At Minya University, opposition students won all of the 56 seats at the Faculty of Physical Education, with Muslim Brotherhood students getting zero. At the Faculty of Agriculture at Tanta University, independent students won 66 per cent of the seats, compared to 34 per cent won by the Brotherhood. The Muslim Brotherhood only received high scores at Al-Azhar University, winning 70 per cent of the seats. At the same time, independent candidate Mohamed Badran won the presidency of Egypt's Student Union (ESU), the umbrella body, in the elections that took place on 23 April. Head of Al-Azhar University Student Union Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, a Muslim Brotherhood affiliate, won the position of vice president of the ESU. Abdel-Rahman was competing against Mohamed Asran, head of the Assiut University Student Union, who lost by three votes. “We respect the results. Congratulations to the winners,” said Sohaib Abdel-Maksoud, official spokesperson of the Muslim Brotherhood student movement. “The ESU represents students at all public universities. It is similar to the Shura Council and parliament,” Abdel-Maksoud said. He added that he wanted the union to be the voice of all students and to participate in making the laws and decisions that affect them. Meanwhile, the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) issued a report on 25 April about the waves of clashes and unrest at the country's universities. According to the report, there was a poor security presence on campuses during the disturbances, which led to violence among both university students and outsiders. The NCHR called for the introduction of a draft law regarding peaceful demonstrations which would criminalise the sabotage of public property as well as carrying weapons during demonstrations. The report said that security at university entry points should be tightened and security within campuses should be strictly implemented in order to combat riots. The report also found that there had been inappropriate handling of the angry students, thus leading to clashes which resulted in the siege of university administration buildings, where students prevented staff from leaving. “The police were found to have used excessive force and verbal abuse against the protesters,” the report read. According to Leila, “the moral aspect of all this has a lot to do with post-revolution developments that have caused frustration and brought the worst out of people.” On 24 April, protesters rejected violence against students as they called for the dismissal of the higher education minister, and they also protested against the recent increases in incidents of violence against school students. Minister of Higher Education Mustafa Mosaad told the media that there had been “exaggerations” in reporting the developments taking place on university campuses. Mosaad said that violent acts had been taking place on some campuses, but “not at all of them”, as some newspapers had reported. At many universities, education had been continuing as normal, he said. “There are a few shortcomings inside the universities due to the lack of interaction between students and professors,” Mosaad said. “But there is no need to re-introduce security personnel from the Ministry of Interior to be part of the universities' security. Resorting to such solutions could lead to complications, given the country's current circumstances.” Awatef Abdel-Rahman, a professor at Cairo University's Faculty of Mass Communication, said that since security forces at universities had been substituted for by civilian security men who had no experience of security among university students, “the gates of universities have been opened to anyone and to any activity, including drugs and harassment. We are seeing things now which were never present in the past,” she said. According to Abdel-Rahman, a court order removed Ministry of Interior security personnel from the country's universities in 2008, annulling a 1980 decree stipulating the protection of universities by security forces affiliated to the ministry of interior. Nevertheless, “they have been repressing students, especially during protests. They have also been interfering in many university activities, such as student union elections,” Abdel-Rahman said.
