More than 100 university professors signed a statement calling for Egypt's ruling military council to ratify a decree to remove all faculty heads and other similarly appointed persons on August 1. The statement is compiled by the Group for the Independence of Universities, otherwise known at the March 9 Movement. Egypt's cabinet of ministers ratified the decree they have asked the council to implement earlier this month. Dozens of professors staged a protest outside the central building of Cairo University. They called for a response to the demand of faculty members in universities, questioning the reasons behind the delay in approval of the decree. Amongst the signatories were Dr. Mohamed Abul-Ghar, the spiritual father of March 9, and Dr. Abdul Jalil Mustafa, professor at the Faculty of Medicine, and many others including novelist and professor of literature at Ain Shams Radwa Ashour and Dr. Leila Souief, professor in the faculty of science in Cairo university. Dr. Amr Ezzat Salama, the former Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, had presented the draft of the decree to the cabinet of ministers. Dr. Moataz Khurshid, the new Minister of Higher Education, will not make a statement about whether the decree will be applied or not.
