On 7 April, Cairo University officials agreed a security plan for protecting its premises and students from terrorist attacks with Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim. During the meeting to discuss the plan, it was agreed that police guards should not be allowed entry onto the university campus but would instead be posted outside the main gates and would train security personnel on campus on security measures. The latter would also be trained to deal with violent clashes or protests. It was on 3 April that the Cairo University board of deans decided to allow police guards onto the campus, a decision that came one day after three bombings had taken place outside university premises resulting in the death of a senior police officer and the injury of 17 people. The board issued a statement asking the university administration to allow the presence of the police on the campus. It also called upon the institution's professors, employees and students to consider the exceptional circumstances the university was facing and to respect the security procedures. The request was sent to University President Gaber Nassar, who discussed it with the administration and wrote to the Ministry of the Interior requesting the presence of police outside the university campus but not inside. Mahmoud Kubeish, Dean of the Law Faculty, said that the university needed to see the return of the police in order to protect professors, employees and students from terrorist attacks. “Muslim Brotherhood affiliates kill and injure people and blame it on the police. These accusations are impeding the police from intervening in order not to confirm their claims,” he said. According to Kubeish, the police do not need the university's approval to enter the campus, especially when it comes to maintaining security and protecting people's lives. The university's Students' Union has submitted a request to the interior minister requesting him not to allow the police onto the campus in order to avoid any clashes between them and the students. Meanwhile, dozens of Faculty of Commerce students demonstrated in front of the Faculty's buildings protesting against the presence of the police on university premises. Ashraf Abdallah, Assistant to the Interior Ministry for Central Security Affairs, said that no ministry forces would enter the campus without an official request. “We don't want to be blamed for anything. We responded immediately to the request of the president of Al-Azhar University when he asked the minister for the police's presence inside the campus,” he said. Abdallah added that since the decree allowing the police onto university campuses had been annulled in 2010, a state of instability and violence had been prevailing on academic premises. There will now be measures to control the entrances to Cairo University for security reasons. The cars of professors and employees will enter the university from the main gate and will depart from a side gate. “Two gates of the university will be locked in order to limit the movement of people and cars. Administrative security personnel placed at the gates will be trained to examine individuals entering the university. Spaces between the bars of the university fences will be blocked in order to prevent anyone from entering the university illicitly. Monitoring cameras will be placed at all the university's gates,” Abdallah said. Ashraf Al-Shehi, the President of Zagazig University, is also calling for the return of police personnel to campuses, as well as measures that could protect his university without interfering with administrative procedures. “In the past, the presence of police personnel on campuses was resented because they were thought to limit the students' freedom of expression,” Al-Shehi said. “But now the situation is different, as a wave of violence has been prevailing over university premises and people are dying or being injured. It is not a safe atmosphere, and education cannot continue. The universities must be secured.” In a press release issued on 3 April, Al-Shehi said there was little difference between the administrative security personnel and the police. “The only difference is that while the police are armed, the others aren't,” he said. “Students and professors should not be over-sensitive when dealing with the idea of police guards on campus,” as the nation was no longer prepared to put up with what had been happening on campuses. Al-Shehi also called for a ban on demonstrations on campuses, saying that education must take precedence over the right to protest. Meanwhile, staff members of Al-Azhar's Engineering Faculty for Girls have begun collecting signatures to support the presence of the police on campus “in order to achieve stability and to prevent riots”. The staff called for an intensified police presence on the campus, pointing to the failure of the university to take measures such as installing iron gates to prevent the storming of buildings during student demonstrations.
