Cairo University to ban student activities that appear political

As the new academic year approaches, Cairo University plans to ban any politically affiliated student activities, university president Gaber Nassar told the state-owned Middle East News Agency (MENA) on Monday.

Any student activities that could be considered “political offshoots” of any party or movement would immediately be disbanded, Nassar said, in order to prevent political activity from disrupting the educational process.

His decision comes on the heels of similar actions taken by other university presidents, who are bracing for the new academic year by threatening to suspend any students who offend or incite against President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi or any other “symbols of the state.” Ain Shams and Beni Suef Universities have already instituted this rule, while Cairo University says it is still studying the measure.

The Beni Suef University Council declared that students who commit actions or circulate speech that is considered offensive to Sisi face expulsion, and also banned all protests on university grounds. The Ain Shams University Council said that students suspected of such acts would immediately be referred to investigation, the results of which would bear on the decision to suspend them.

The Beni Suef University Council also encouraged students to donate to the “Tahya Masr” (Long Live Egypt) Fund, a fundraising drive initiated by Sisi to support Egypt’s economy. The council said that donating will send a message that Egypt’s youth are taking part in the country’s development, and show support for Sisi’s initiative.

Cairo University was slammed by critics for donating LE20 million to the fund, as students point out that the university has claimed it lacks the financial resources to implement a better security system on campus.

University campuses have been the scene of bloody confrontations between police forces and various student groups — many belonging to the banned Muslim Brotherhood organization — since the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi. In the last academic year, at least 13 students were killed, dozens injured and hundreds arrested in Egypt’s worst crackdown on academic freedoms in the last 70 years, according to the Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE).