CAIRO - Universities in Egypt have already reopened, but things will be very different from before the 25 January uprising, as there will now be no state security men on campus. These security men from the Interior Ministry had been responsible for security inside universities since 1981, say students and lecturers. Last October, the Higher Administrative Court ruled that State Security should be replaced by a civilian security force at public universities, as thousands of students prepare to rally on campuses ahead of the country's parliamentary elections. “The presence of Interior Ministry security men on campus impedes the independence of universities guaranteed by the Constitution and the law,” the court said. "Security inside universities has been abolished, based on the ruling of the Higher Administrative Court," said Hossam Kamel, the President of Cairo University, the nation's biggest public university. Following the dismissal of State Security guards from its campus, Cairo University deployed security personnel unaffiliated to Egypt's Interior Ministry. Other Egyptian universities are also in the process of forming civil security units in preparation to take over. Male and female security personnel have taken up positions along Cairo University's corridors and at its gates. "The new entity will comprise 950 personnel inside the faculties and other buildings on campus," says Moataz Abu Shadi, Secretary-General of Cairo University. "Meanwhile, these personnel and similar personnel at other universities up and down the country, supervised by security experts, will be trained in how to maintain security on campus.” In 2008, an Egyptian court had previously ruled that the security guards should be removed from the nation's universities, arguing that they endangered the independence of these places of learning. This ruling, however, was never implemented, as the security apparatus had total control of university campuses and their activities. Then came the downfall of Mubarak's regime and the disintegration of the Interior Ministry and all of its branches, even the State Security apparatus, with its reputation for torturing innocent people. Abu Shadi stresses that the applicants for these jobs will be chosen on their merits. "We refuse to sign deals with security companies. Security units should be a part of the whole entity of the university as they know everything related to the university," he told the Arabic daily Al-Akhbar. The same thing is planned at many other universities nationwide, as they strive to keep abreast of the recent changes in Egyptian society. In any case, the Ministry of Interior's security personnel have more essential work to do elsewhere. Moustafa Kamal, the President of Assiut University, says that they're going to have an 800-strong security unit to secure the university's faculties, laboratories and other buildings. "There will be many retired military officers supervising this security entity," Kamal stresses. "Civil security wants the students to continue to behave honourably, as they did during the revolution, for the whole world to see. “They can express their opinions freely, but there will be no room for corruption on campus.” Some others, like professor Omaima el-Henawi of Cairo University, points out that this is a step forward towards university independence. "There will be no more restrictions. This is the era of freedom that we have been lacking for decades," she says.
