President intervenes to resolve Nile University land dispute

A “friendly” settlement in the Nile University and Ahmed Zewail saga was reached following an intervention by interim President Adly Mansour, who held a meeting at the presidential palace Sunday with the President of the Nile University Tarek Khalil, the state-owned Middle East News Agency reported.

Mansour said he had been in contact with Zewail over the past two days, and agreed with him on several issues to resolve the dispute.

Following the January 25 Uprising, successive prime ministers Ahmed Shafiq and Essam Sharaf issued decisions to transfer land, labs and facilities to the Zewail City project, the namesake of Nobel laureate Ahmed Zewail.

The settlement reached includes agreed use of the administrative building for Nile University students starting next month, and allocating the Science building to researchers at Zewail City.

The state will also provide a piece of land for Zewail City on which it will construct a building for researchers at its own expense. Zewail City in return will leave the other building to Nile University.

The meeting at the presidential palace included Abdel Aziz Hegazy, chairman of the University’s Board of Trustees and Ibrahim Badran, member of the Board of Trustees.

Late last month, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled in favor of Nile University students, affirming the institution’s ownership rights to the lands and buildings claimed by the Ahmed Zewail City of Science and Technology.

The court rejected the challenges and annulment requests lodged by Zewail City against previous rulings, which were never enforced, giving the non-profit research University the rights to all the buildings and land located in Sheikh Zayed.

In November 2012, a court ruling annulled an earlier decision to transfer the institution’s land and buildings to Zewail, which meant that students and faculty could reclaim their campus. An April 2013 ruling stipulated the same, giving the students rights to the campus.

Students have held numerous protests and sit-ins demanding their rights to the campus, which at times were forcibly dispersed by security forces. The “Save Nile University” campaign on social media garnered a wide following and built a network of support for the University’s students and faculties.