The 9 March group for the independence of Egyptian universities has decided to continue its campaign to spread awareness among university staff and students concerning the campus security court ruling in December. The group said it will resume its activities following the upcoming parliamentary elections. Dr. Laila Soueif, a founding member of the group, said the decision to halt the awareness campaign came as Egyptian public opinion is currently preoccupied with the elections. “The group is adamant on spreading awareness about the Supreme Administrative Court's ruling, especially after it discovered that many students and professors do not fully comprehend the ruling yet,” said Soueif. The group will begin its awareness campaign tour at Helwan University and will return to Ain Shams University to hand out copies of the court order, insisting "on the right of any staff member to enter any university campus without restrictions or questioning,” Soueif added. She also revealed the group will form a committee consisting of a number of volunteer university staff members from each university which will receive complaints from students subjected to harassment by campus security or university administrations, and then relay these complaints to university officials and try to solve them. Soueif said that she and other members of the group had not undergone any investigations concerning a complaint filed by Ain Shams University against them and she does not believe “that Cairo University officials would make the mistake of investigating university professors for having entered another Egyptian university.” A recent court ruling ordered the end of the presence of security guards in university campuses, a ruling that, if implemented, would put an end to 30 years of police presence in national campuses. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
