Professors of five public universities have been on strike since the beginning of the new academic year, demanding the dismissal or resignation of their presidents, Reem Leila reports Hundreds of professors and students of five universities continued the demonstration they began on 1 October, which marked the beginning of the new academic year. The professors are demanding the stepping down or dismissal of university presidents who were appointed during the regime of Hosni Mubarak. They have threatened to march to the headquarters of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to pressure for their dismissal. The president of the Minya University resigned on 2 October, and strikers are requesting the five other university presidents do likewise. But the presidents of Alexandria, Sohag, Assiut, Mansoura and Menoufiya universities are still refusing to submit their resignation to the SCAF because they say they have not been accused of corruption or any other misdemeanour. Accordingly, they add, they should be allowed to remain in their posts until the end of their term. University professor Hani El-Hussein, who is also the official spokesman of the 9 March activist movement, said the only way "to accomplish our aim is to pressure the SCAF until they respond to our demands." University education, according to El-Hussein, has been deteriorating throughout the past 50 years. "When university leaders are changed, the educational process, curriculum, laboratories, classrooms and everything else will improve," El-Husseini predicted. More than 50 per cent of the professors of the five universities have participated in the strike. University professors are requesting the removal of all university presidents who were appointed during the previous regime in addition to amending professors' salary structure. "In June I told university professors as well as the media to forget the new academic year. The country's future is more important than anything else, even if students have to lose a year. One year of their age is a very cheap price to be paid in return for helping in the reformation of the country's future," stated El-Husseini. The five university presidents have been granted 48 hours starting 3 October to step down from their posts. If they did not, "we will have to march to the SCAF to force them to dismiss those who do not want to resign," El-Husseini said. "They have the power and authority to do so. The SCAF is forcing us to resort to such methods. Why don't they respond to our demands without making the situation worse? We will continue with our strike until our demands are met." Professors believe it is the government, the Ministry of Higher Education and the SCAF's responsibility to pressure the current president to resign. But Adli Reda, counsellor to the minister of higher education and scientific research, disagrees. "The ministry does not have authority over university presidents. The minister cannot force any of them to resign," said Reda, who believes that university professors should not be on strike. "A university professor is a role model to the students. He should not go on strike. This strike which might extend for three or four weeks will affect the quality of education, considering that the academic year is less than 30 weeks. Why risk the future of two million university students?" Reda said. The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, according to Reda, has been exerting diplomatic and political efforts with striking professors to reach a compromise. Efforts will continue until university campuses are stable," Reda added. According to El-Husseini, the call for academic freedom and transparency in the country's education system goes back to 2004 with the founding of 9 March. "The movement is composed of activist academics who target the independence of public universities from state security and government control as well as fighting corruption which has been rampant in universities for several years. The country's universities stopped a long time ago being a source of education. The former regime was imposing total control over them thus transforming them into institutes serving the system's own needs. During that time, students were not taught the notion of democracy or even slight political awareness which might have prepared them to serve the country better." Several faculty deans who won their seats in university elections which took place last week, belonged to the old regime and were re-elected by professors. Reda said the ministry has no power over them. "As long as they have been re-elected then professors who chose them believe they are good enough for the post," he added. El-Husseini disagrees with Reda and believes that there is strong proof of corruption within the university. "This was evident in Cairo University's Faculty of Law. Professors are old, and elderly people do not prefer to change. Professors usually have interests with the old dean, thus re-electing him because they will benefit from his presence," El-Husseini said. However, deans who belong to the old regime and were re-elected realise now that they came by the power of people, not the state security. "So they've taken a different path than what they were following during the regime of the ousted president. This in itself is a privilege for the university and students as well," he added. Strikes have not spread to the country's remaining 13 public universities but professors will reportedly join a sit-in on Sunday if their demands are not met.
