March 9 Movement condemns proposed amendment to university law

The March 9 Movement in support of university independence condemned a legal amendment proposed by the Cabinet giving university heads the power to sack staff members without disciplinary hearings.

In a press conference on Sunday, the movement released a statement saying the amendment disrespects and undermines university professors and is in violation of Articles 95 and 96 of the constitution.

The amendments are a way of expanding the powers of university heads at the expense of university councils, the movement claimed. “We believe that this amendment and others over the last year are part of the executive authority’s general plan to deal with universities in a more security manner,” the statement said, adding, “We need to preserve and dissociate universities from the current struggles.”

Member of the movement and Cairo University professor Hany al-Husseiny said that as soon as the March 9 Movement heard about the proposed amendments, they held an emergency meeting on Saturday to draft a statement to send to the Cabinet and president.

Husseiny said the movement tried to enquire which professors would be attending a ceremony at Cairo University on Sunday evening to host president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, in order to present the statement to him there. However, all of the professors they contacted said they weren’t invited.

A staff member at Ain Shams University, Khaled Samir, claimed the president’s recent speech at the UN General Assembly on human rights contradicts experiences on campuses in recent months, adding that the answer to tackling university based violence doesn’t lie in suspending students or raiding campuses, as “this is what breeds terrorism and violence.”

According to university professor and activist Laila Soueif, the media is deliberately exaggerating the events that took place on campuses last year, claiming that university violence spread to wider society.

Soueif claims there were six weeks of media coverage of the clashes until Central Security Forces stormed Cairo University campus, killing at least one student. “There hadn’t been any violence that disrupted the academic process previously, except for a few peaceful protests,” she added.

Husseiny alleged there is a deliberate attempt by the executive authority to give the impression that the university is spreading terrorism, for which he also holds the media responsible. He continued, “Over the last academic year, the school of sciences for example, which is in the center of the campus [at Cairo University], didn’t suspend classes except for six hours, but the media portrayed it as if all universities were on fire.”