The two ministries of interior and higher education signed a coordination agreement late this week that might help end violence now prevailing at universities. The deal includes placing police units in front of every university. Administrative security personnel, who unofficially have judicial powers of arrest, will be trained on how to deal with violent clashes within university premises. Some professors believe the government, through signing such a pact, is bringing back university guards affiliated to the Interior Ministry, the presence of whom was viewed as curbing freedoms during the era of former president Hosni Mubarak. Mustafa Al-Sayed, a professor of political science at the American University in Cairo, said, “the danger of what is happening in universities now is that many student rights will be suppressed under the guise of confronting the Muslim Brotherhood,” blaming the Islamists' “violent approach” as being the reason. The government, according to Al-Sayed, must deal with such matters differently. “The unrest in universities will get worse if the concerned authorities use harsher approaches while confronting violence,” Al-Sayed said, adding that “we should keep a balance between maintaining the educational process and protecting student freedoms. We don't want to either oppress students or impede the educational process.” National universities have been witnessing protests since the beginning of this academic year. Students have been demonstrating for several reasons, including the expulsion of students for protesting, possible enforcement of judicial arrest powers, detention of 79 university students and the death of around 77. This is in addition to calls for reinstating ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. Muslim Brotherhood students have been staging demonstrations under the slogan “No Academic Year until the Return of Morsi”. Hundreds of students of Al-Azhar University who are affiliated to the Brotherhood demonstrated on 28 October and clashed with police forces outside university premises at Al-Nasr road. Students wanted to reach Rabaa Al-Adaweya to stage a sit-in there. They also demanded the dismissal of the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed Al-Tayeb as well as university president Osama Al-Abd. Students pelted police forces and pedestrians with stones. Accordingly, police forces had to disperse the students with tear gas to force them back into the university. Two students were arrested. The following day, Al-Azhar students chained the gates of the university's presidency, seized security personnel and attacked employees. Muslim Brotherhood students of Cairo University also attacked Deputy Dean of Dar Al-Ulum Faculty for Social Affairs Alaa Raafat, along with the faculty professor Abdel-Radi Abdel-Mohsen and head of the faculty's security Ahmed Safie, for refusing to display data regarding sit-ins of Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Nahda Square at the faculty campus. Raafat along with Abdel-Radi and Safie instructed students to show any information outside faculty premises, a request which was refused by the students. The squares, which became camps of protest by the Brotherhood, were forcibly dispersed by the police in August. Clashes occurred between Brotherhood students and the university's administrative security. Two students were injured along with five security members. At the same time, Cairo University students protested against the possible enforcement of arrest powers. Violent clashes also erupted among hundreds of students anti- and pro-Morsi at Ain Shams University. They chanted slogans against the Armed Forces and Minister of Defence Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, and the implementation of judicial seizure. Muslim Brotherhood students of Zagazig University chanted slogans against the interim government, provoking anti-Morsi students to chant back against Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood as a whole. Supporters of the deposed president protested against what they described as a military coup. In a later development, angry students at Zagazig University detained the dean of the Engineering Faculty Hamdi Shehab and prevented him from leaving. Shehab had approved a decree by a disciplinary committee that dismissed two MB students for rioting. The protesters, beating drums, chanted anti-army and anti-leadership slogans, condemning university leaders for endorsing what they called the coup against Egypt's first freely elected president. They denounced his ouster and labelled it a violation of democracy. According to a recent report issued by the International Development Centre, since the beginning of this academic year, there have been 146 protests, including 22 in Cairo University and 13 in Ain Shams. The report said 60 per cent of demonstrations were for political reasons, 21 per cent due to internal matters related to university regulations, and the remaining 19 per cent due to other reasons. Awatef Abdel-Rahman, a professor at Cairo University's Faculty of Mass Communication, believes that Islamist students are trying to turn universities into protest centres. “Universities are now becoming their main battle front, thus causing restlessness in university communities. What Muslim Brotherhood students are doing in universities is considered terrorism. They provoke other students and drag them into clashes, then use violence against them,” said Abdel-Rahman. Universities respects the right of peaceful protest “but hindering the educational process will not be tolerated,” said Abdel-Rahman. Universities have been a haven for political activities since a court decision annulled the presence of guards affiliated to the Ministry of Interior at campuses in 2010. “Universities are a way to combine the energy of youths in one place so they should be respected along with the educational process. Students who violate university regulations by impeding the educational process must be severely penalised,” added Abdel-Rahman. Most university professors are against violence in universities but oppose granting powers of arrest to administrative employees. Professors provided several alternative suggestions to resolve the crisis without resorting to judicial seizure. Gaber Nassar, president of Cairo University, said harsher penalties should be applied for carrying weapons, drug trafficking and harassment on campus. “Students who will be caught red handed will be investigated by a disciplinary board. This board, composed of university professors and headed by the university president, will have the right to decide the kind of penalty that should be applied to the students, which could be suspension for a period not less than one year and not more than three years in case a violation is committed for the first time. If repeated, perpetrator are to be dismissed from university,” said Nassar. Granting powers of judicial seizure to administrative security personnel could affect students' freedom of expression as it hinders students from practising political activity within the university premises. “The university is the only available and legal place for students to exercise such rights as they are doing it peacefully. We as professors must encourage students to use peaceful and legitimate means without disrupting the educational process or harming public property. Students must be urged to refrain from violence. Penalties will be applied in cases of criminal offences that constitute a clear violation of the law and university regulations,” Nassar added. Meanwhile, Islamic Students against the Military Coup vowed to continue their protests against the military and the interim government until their demands are met, including the reinstatement of the ousted president, release of students arrested by the security forces and punishing security forces who killed protesters during their sit-ins at Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Nahda Square which lasted for more than 50 days. The Supreme Council of Universities, which regulates state universities, issued recent guidelines to regulate student protests. It says students should not raise their voice while protesting on campus. Students are banned from demonstrating near lecture halls and are not allowed to use provocative chants which might start violent clashes among students of different affiliations.
