Mubarak-era campus election rules divide students

Thousands of students at Egypt’s universities have staged protests against a decision by the Ministry of Higher Education to hold student union elections under regulations dating from the era of toppled president Hosni Mubarak.

“Despite the revolution, the government continues to impose curbs on students’ freedom and bar them from engaging in politics on campus,” said Fawzi Gadallah, a student at Cairo University, Egypt’s biggest public university.

“We want new regulations for elections, reflecting the revolution and its demands for freedom and justice,” he added, referring to the popular uprising that ended Mubarak’s 30-year rule in February last year.

The controversial regulations were originally issued in 1979, two years before Mubarak took office. Opponents say the regulations were drafted by state security agencies, which used to wield major influence in Egypt – including over academic institutions – under Mubarak’s rule.

“These notorious regulations were the ones which, for example, gave the administration of the [private] German University in Cairo the right to sack five students for staging an anti-military demonstration on campus,” said Sameh Hamad, an activist in a leftist grouping.

“If independence of universities is not established now, when will this happen?” Hamad is one of several students staging a sit-in at Cairo University in protest against the polls.

Elections are already under way in several of Egypt’s 36 public and private universities despite the mass protests. Authorities say that more than 24,000 students have applied to contest the elections.

“Many students have demanded that the elections be held before the academic year ends [in July],” said Adli Reda, a media advisor to the higher education minister. “Moreover, the education committee of parliament has recommended the current elections.” According to the official, issuing new election regulations will take time.

Last month, a large number of students from the influential Muslim Brotherhood, which holds nearly half of the seats in parliament, demonstrated to demand that student elections be held – showing that students are divided over this hot issue.

Minister of Higher Education, Hussein Khaled, agreed. He told the press last week that the elections were necessary because around 25% of student union members have already graduated. He added that new regulations are being worked out and will be revised with student input before they are approved.

“The academic year is nearing an end. Therefore, elections must be held,” said Ahmed el-Ghazli, an Islamist student in Cairo University’s faculty of pharmacology. “The main aim of the elections should be to push for drafting new regulations on the basis of which polls will be conducted in coming years,” he added.

The regulations restrict political activities on campus. But higher education authorities say the curbs have largely been eased following the anti-Mubarak revolt.

However students say that administrators, mainly at public universities, have recently banned political and cultural activities on campuses for being critical of the military junta that has been ruling Egypt since Mubarak’s overthrow.

Universities have been gripped in recent months by mass protests demanding, among other things, that academics suspected of loyalty to the Mubarak regime be sacked.