State Council stays neutral in Egyptian Student Union saga

The State Council declined to offer its opinion on Wednesday concerning the Higher Education Ministry’s decision to void the results of the Egyptian Student Union (ESU) elections that took place in December.

The ESU is the country’s largest official umbrella student organization. Higher Education Minister Ashraf al-Shihy nullified the poll results in December citing a legal loophole in the elections process, effectively unseating the voted-in leaders of student unions at public universities. 

The student community was outraged by the ministry’s decision. Student leaders alleged the ministry voided the results because a pro-revolution current within the student movement that supports academic freedoms and university independence had won, as opposed to the allegedly state-backed Voice of Egypt’s Students coalition.

Shihy denied the claims and referred the issue to the State Council’s Legislation and Jurisprudence Committee to rule on the disagreement. The State Council, however, explained Wednesday that it has no authority to offer its opinion in a matter that has already been referred to court.

Judicial sources told the privately owned Al-Shorouk newspaper that an appeal against the ministry’s decision had been filed before the Administrative Court.

Student union leaders previously told Mada Masr that Shihy’s referral to the State Council was “an attempt to buy more time" and delay the issue's resolution, given that the election results were invalidated by the end of the first semester, when mid-year exams began.

Challenged by limited time, elected student union leaders suspected the issue would not soon be resolved, which is why they were attempting to go the judicial route to halt the minister's decision. In a previous interview with Mada Masr, vice president of the dissolved ESU Amr al-Helw explained that the newly elected unions only have three months before their official term ends, and must start working immediately so that the ESU issue does not become a barrier for the entire student movement.

While less than hopeful that the legal path will work in the students’ favor, Helw offered some optimism: “We are working on a strong comeback for the student unions. The Egyptian Student Union is only one means for this comeback, and not the end result of student activity. The ministry would be deluded if it believed it could crush student activism through its decision. We were part of a strong student movement before the elections, and through elections we will continue our activism.”