Students and faculty demand the resignation of Cairo University's dean of mass communication, reports Reem Leila Universities across the nation have turned into centres of conflict. Students and professors are protesting on campus and have threatened not to end their demonstrations until pro-Mubarak colleagues are gone. At Cairo University's Faculty of Mass Communication students have joined their teachers in demanding the dismissal of faculty dean Sami Abdel-Aziz. Students started their sit-in more than two weeks ago, with several embarking on a hunger strike in an attempt to force Abdel-Aziz's resignation. A member of the National Democratic Party's (NDP) Party's Policies Committee, Abdel-Aziz was appointed to the Shura Council by ex- president Hosni Mubarak. According to Ashraf Saleh, head of faculty's Journalism Department, Abdel-Aziz regularly reported to state security officials. "Given the young people of the 25 January Revolution forced Mubarak and former Prime minister Ahmed Shafik to step down the students have every right to demand the dean be dismissed, especially since he was against the revolution," says Saleh. On 23 March protesting students upped the ante by gathering in front of a lecture theatre where Abdel-Aziz was teaching, chanting "leave, leave". Hussein Afifi, a second year journalism student, says that a few hours later the army entered the campus and tried to convince the protesters to disperse, asking for representatives of the students to negotiate with them. According to Hussein an army officer announced that the dean has resigned before asking the students to end their demonstration and select two representatives to go to the Higher Council of the Armed Forces (HCAF) for further discussion. The offer was refused. Later the same day students and professors were shocked to see two armoured vehicles pull up outside the campus. By 8pm 10 officers had entered the campus. According to Afifi, students were dispersed with electric batons. "Some of us were dragged down the stairs from the fourth floor and detained inside one of the military vehicles. The Armed Forces also detained four professors for almost two hours." The army has issued an official apology to the four professors. An official complaint about the incident has been submitted to Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, the HCAF, Prosecutor-General Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud and University President Hossam Kamel, says Saleh, one of the detained teachers. "This has never happened before. Egypt has signed an international treaty banning the entry of any Armed Forces into university campuses," says Saleh. "What happened violates this treaty. We are demanding the dean takes a two-month vacation, allowing the faculty to elect a new dean by the beginning of the academic year." "Students consider Abdel-Aziz a symbol of the Mubarak regime," argues Mahmoud Khalil, professor of journalism. "We can't force them to accept him." Reports saying the dean has been forced to take open leave until the end of the academic year have been denied by Abdel-Aziz. His current absence from the faculty, he says, is for health reasons. But should he return, say student activists, protests demanding his resignation will continue. Not all students are against Abdel-Aziz. "He is an excellent professor and explains things clearly in his lectures," says Hend Adel, a second year journalism student. "Students should be concerned more about studying not about who is and is not dean." Ebtesam El-Guindi, a member of the Mass Communication Faculty, says there is no evidence to support allegations that Abdel-Aziz was reporting to state security officers. "It is unfair to criticise people's political affiliations and beliefs. Abdel-Aziz has accomplished much as dean and is an excellent professor," says El-Guindi. Former Mass Communication dean Awatef Abdel-Rahman denounces the calling in of the army as unacceptable and insists that professors have every right to hold the interim government accountable for the appearance of Armed Forces on the campus and the violent dispersal of the protest. "Students have the right to express their opinion," says Abdel-Rahman. "How can we teach them to be responsible media people if they are denied the right to express their points of view as students?" Military officer Hamdi Badin, who with another officer remains stationed on campus, denies using force to break up the protests. "We were only protecting Abdel-Aziz as he left the building," he said, adding that while the dean had submitted his resignation Cairo University president had refused to accept it. Contacted by Al-Ahram Weekly, Abdel-Aziz said he was suffering from flu which had prevented him from undertaking his university duties.
