Hoda Elsadda* outlines the philosophy behind one group of academics that is struggling for freedom on Egyptian university campuses A group of academics in Egyptian universities under the name "9 March" have come together to uphold the values of academic freedom by challenging existing laws and practices that threaten the autonomy of national universities and resulting in the deterioration of higher education in Egypt. Established in the summer of 2003, the group -- to use words repeated by all its members -- is informal, has no president, and is governed by a democratic spirit where decisions are reached by consensus. It is also an inclusive group that welcomes new members and has consequently been growing steadily. Members hold meetings on university campuses and inside university clubs and address topical issues of academic concern. Its members fund all activities of the group. The name of the group is inspired by a significant moment in Egyptian academic history. On 9 March 1932, Ahmed Lutfi Al-Sayyid, president of Cairo University (then Fouad I University), submitted his resignation in protest against a decision made by the minister of education to transfer Taha Hussein, dean of the Faculty of Arts, to another job outside the university without consulting with him and ensuring his approval. Al-Sayyid considered this action a blatant political intervention by the state in the governance of the university that he found unacceptable. In his resignation letter, he maintained that the minister had erred on three fronts. The first concerned the autonomy of the university. The second concerned the overall interest of higher education. The third concerned the contractual agreement between the university founded by the initiative of civil society (Al-Gamia Al-Ahliyya) and the new university supported by the state (Al-Gamia Al-Gadida). Although the minister was acting "within the law", Al-Sayyid insisted that these laws compromised basic principles of academic freedom by allowing political interests to interfere in academic matters. He decided to expose the dangers that lurked behind accepting them uncritically. In 1935, he agreed to take up his post again as president of the university on condition that the law was modified. He was granted his request and a battle for academic freedom was won. This act of resistance against political interventions in academic affairs was deemed worthy of commemoration in Egyptian collective memory. On 9 March every year, the aforementioned group organises a commemorative event to initiate discussions around the future of higher education in Egypt. The first event took place in 2004 and emphasised the necessity of working towards securing the autonomy of national universities and warning of the perils of political intervention. Professor Mohamed Aboul Ghar, a prominent and active member of the 9 March group, gave a presentation about the deterioration of knowledge production inside national universities and argued that one of the main reasons behind this dire state of affairs was control exercised by the ruling regime on institutions of higher education. The event also included testimonies about two crisis moments in the history of Egyptian academia: the first in 1954 when a large group of academics were expelled from national universities on ideological grounds; the second in 1981 when academics were either arrested or transferred to other jobs again on account of their political views. In addition to these events, the group publishes a non-periodic newsletter that documents some of its activities as well as highlights major issues that need to be addressed. One such major issue that the group had an active role in discussing and reviewing was the project funded by a loan from the World Bank to establish a unit to assess and develop academic performance in Egyptian universities. Members of the 9 March group reviewed the project and commented on what they considered to be its advantages and disadvantages. There is no room here to give justice to this very important document but suffice it to say that the main point of contention between 9 March and the state-sponsored project was regarding the difference between a serious and radical vision for reform as opposed to cosmetic and short-term measures. Members of 9 March formulated an alternate proposal for the reformation of higher education that emphasised autonomy, academic freedom, financial and administrative independence from state institutions, principles of transparency and accountability, an emphasis on securing basic resources, to give just a few examples. As for the bulk of activities carried out by the 9 March group, it is fair to say that their main focus has been to resist the influence of security police inside the university and to combat the exploitation of universities for political gain. On this issue, the group organised protest gatherings, wrote numerous statements addressed to ministers and university presidents and published in newspapers, conducted meetings and published articles and leaflets documenting various violations of academic freedom. Some of these statements involved academic appointments which were halted because of objections raised by state security, harassment of students and staff by security police inside universities, violent attacks by security police on peaceful demonstrations inside university campuses, the cancellation of lectures or seminars because of security objections regarding speakers and so forth. To give just one example of a success story, in February 2005, the group started a campaign in support of Hani Doueik whose appointment in one university was refused due to the objection of security forces and in defiance of academic considerations. He was finally appointed in September 2005. The second Arab Human Development Report published in 2003 focused on the deterioration of knowledge production in the Arab world as a major hindrance to progress. It emphasised that freedom and good governance were a necessity to insure the formulation and implementation of policies conducive to building a knowledge society. The 9 March group's focus on challenging the political exploitation of universities has instated the principle of resistance as a prerequisite for the reform of education in Egypt. * The writer is Professor of the Contemporary Arab World, The University of Manchester
