Minister of Higher Education Amr Ezzat Salama, meeting with protesting Cairo University students, promised on Tuesday to fulfill all their demands. Cairo University students have been staging protests since beginning of the university's second semester, calling for sacking the university administration and faculty deans on the grounds that they have been implementing National Democratic Party policies which curtail freedoms on campus. Salama promised that all demands would be met, including designating new managers according to standards approved by students and professors, by election rather than appointment. Salama called for the formation of a delegation to represent all student demands. Meanwhile, Cairo University President Hossam Kamel suspended classes on Tuesday until protests end. A group of Armed Forces officials met with protesters on Monday to inform them that their demands were under consideration by the Supreme Council for the Armed Forces. Officials said that military police personnel were securing the students' sit-in and all university premises. However, protesters assured they would not end their sit-in until all their demands have been met. Dozens of students and faculty members rallied in front of the Faculty of Mass Communication, holding up banners against Dean Sami Abdel Aziz, an NDP member, who had criticized the 25 January uprising. Students also marched to the Faculty of Science on Sunday in protest against their dean, who had referred a number of assistant teachers for investigation after they challenged his policies. Hundreds of students also protested at the university's administrative building, calling for the university president's dismissal. They condemned the presence of state security personnel on the campus despite declarations that police and state security elements had been removed. A number of physical therapy students and faculty members, meanwhile, said they would not attend or give lectures until their dean is dismissed, saying that he has failed to resign despite promising that he would.
