Three weeks ago Al-Ahram daily quoted a “judicial source” who claimed the Ministry of Justice was considering granting security staff employed on the campuses of public universities the power of arrest. The source was quoted as saying campus security personnel might also be allowed to refer reports filed by university workers on their colleagues to the prosecutor-general and be granted the right to investigate, collecting evidence and information on university employees and students. Despite denials from Hazem Al-Beblawi's government that any such move was being considered – three statements were issued refuting the story in just 10 days — the report stirred fears among human rights activists who warned of attempts to bring back the police state of former president Hosni Mubarak. Students held protests at several universities on the first day of the academic year to express their opposition to the rumoured change. Demonstrations, organised mainly by Muslim Brotherhood students, took place at Ain Shams, Mansoura and Assiut universities. “The interim government has not issued any decree giving university campus security judicial arrest powers. This is nothing but rumour,” said a statement issue by the ministerial council on Sunday. Earlier, Minister of Higher Education Deputy Prime Minister Hossam Eissa announced he was “against such measures and so is the ministerial council”. “I am not in favour of any exceptional measures that might limit students' freedom and oppose any authority interfering in the internal affairs of universities,” Eissa said during an interview with Al-Nahar TV. Mohamed Badran, leader of the Egyptian Universities Students Union, a body that represents all 23 public universities' student unions, said there is no evidence at all to suggest the government intends to implement exceptional measures on university campuses. “While we would oppose such a development,” says Badran, “we must admit that some universities are facing security problems and it is for the government to come up with an acceptable plan that deals with them.” A majority of public university presidents issued a joint statement declaring their opposition to powers of arrest being granted to campus security personal. The statement was issued following several meetings with student unions leaders. Nabil Noureddin, chairman of Sohag University, announced on Saturday that his university would not abide by any decision to impose exceptional procedures. “I believe that disciplinary procedures stipulated by the law that regulate universities affairs are enough to keep the
campus safe,” he said. Following a meeting between university chairman Ali Shamseddin and the deans' council Banha University said it would not implement any such decision on its campus. Mohamed Mohamedein, president of the Suez Canal University, said cooperation between university authorities and student union leaders would be sufficient to improve campus security, while Cairo University President Gaber Nassar vowed not to implement any judicial arrest power following discussions with student and faculty representatives. Given the government denials, and the widespread opposition any such move would provoke, where did the story come from? According to Hossam Eissa, the change was being promoted by the Mohamed Morsi appointed cabinet last April. Former minister of higher education Mustafa Mossad submitted an official request to the Ministry of Justice asking for campus security personal to be granted the power of judicial arrest. The then justice minister told Mossad such a move would require the approval of university presidents. The Supreme Council of Universities subsequently discussed the issue but postponed any decision owing to the growing political crisis which eventually led to Morsi's removal as president. Following Morsi's departure the issue was again discussed during an August meeting of the Supreme Council of Universities. The presidents of Ain Shams and Mansoura universities, expressing concern over the security situation on their campuses, came out in favour of the changes. Others disagreed. In the absence of a consensus the council recommended universities decide for themselves the measures necessary to preserve campus security. On 6 September Mohamed Al-Tokhi, vice president of Ain Shams University, said the university wanted to grant three of its security personal judicial arrest power and added that a request to the Ministry of Justice would be made before the beginning of the academic year to this effect. The Ministry of Justice, however, says it has received no such requests from any university. By means of the law, the minister of justice has the right to grant any governmental employee the power to detain his or her co-workers, to receive reports filed by co-workers and refer them to the prosecutor-general, and to collect information on colleagues. Student union leaders and legal activists warn that such powers could be used by the government and universities' administration to curb the students' political and academic freedom. “While the security situation on campuses has been far from ideal giving judicial authority to campus security personal is no way to restore law and order,” Mohamed Nagui, a researcher at the Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression, told Al-Ahram Weekly. “We are afraid that this decision will be used as a tool to repress certain students with political affiliation. In the current unstable political situation we are concerned this decision will be used against Muslim Brotherhood's students.” Muslim Brotherhood student spokesman Soheib Abdel-Maksoud claims “the government wanted to issue this decision before the start of the academic year because they fear a wave of protests by students against the military coup.” “They want to create a tool that can be used to curb any protest movement among the university students.” Nagui argues that rather than granting untrained staff powers of arrest it would be far better to train those staff on how to maintain security under the existing regulations. “Campus security should be provided with the training and technology necessary for them to do their job and ensure the safety of students,” he says. Hisham Ashraf, leader of Cairo University Students Union, offers his own campus's experience as a model. “Cairo University has experience of training its own security team following the revolution and the security situation on campus is much better than at other universities,” Ashraf told the Weekly. “We have asked the Higher Education Minister to help public universities create their own security units and train them on how to implement the law within an academic environment.”
