The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) has accepted the resignations of four university presidents, said Higher Education Minister Moataz Khorshid Wednesday. Presidents Hossam Kamel of Cairo University, Mohamed Mohamadein of Port Said University, Ahmed al-Gohary of Fayoum University, and Abbass Mansour of South Valley University have resigned and temporary replacements have been appointed until new presidents can be elected. Since the outbreak of Egypt's revolution, students have held widespread demonstrations against the Mubarak regime's influence over universities. Hundreds of students and faculty at Cairo and Ain Shams universities, Egypt's two largest public universities, held demonstrations Tuesday calling for immediate reform and the removal of senior administrators with links to the disbanded National Democratic Party (NDP). The Higher Education Ministry had announced in July that all NDP-affiliated university heads would be dismissed, but the decision was not ratified by the ruling military council. Meanwhile, an elections committee within Cairo University's Law School announced Thursday that a run-off election would be held for the faculty dean post. Former Dean Mahmoud Kebeish, who got 38.9 percent of the vote, and International Law Professor Ahmed Abul Wafa, who got 16.3 of the votes, will face off again as neither of them received the 50 percent of votes required to win the position. The law school elections for dean are the first of their kind in local universities, which typically appoint deans. Earlier in September, the Supreme Council of Universities announced that university heads who resign must be replaced through elections. Translated from the Arabic Edition
