Discussions about university independence have recently gained new momentum. The agenda of the 1986 general conference for Egyptian university faculty members stressed the issues of university independence and freedom of opinion and expression for both faculty and students. In that same year, judges also invoked basic demands for judicial independence.
Two decades later, talk of university and judicial independence is back with renewed vigor. The March 9 Movement – a reference to the day when then University President Ahmed Lotfi Al-Sayed resigned in objection to the removal of Taha Hussien, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, from his post in 1932 – is at the forefront of demands for university and judicial independence.
These demands were intensified in 2004-2005, as they were seen as the pillars of democratic change. But the current regime has been flexible in dealing with opposition voices within judicial circles. Most recently, the President supported the Judges’ Club’s rejection of a draft law proposed by the Minister of Justice, which resulted in weakening of the minister’s position and embarrassing him politically.
But the situation is not the same with universities, whose demands were dealt with minimally, and whose current administrative regulations remain unchanged.
International declarations and charters, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Declaration of Academic Freedom and Independence of Higher Education Institutions, issued in Lima in 1988, agree on a set of fundamental rights concerning academic freedom.
The most prominent of these are the administrative, scientific, and financial independence of higher education institutions; the freedom of student activities; the freedom of scientific research to improve the quality of life in society; the support of scientific research to meet the needs of society; the affirmation of individuals’ rights to develop their knowledge and creativity; and the protection of cultural, artistic, and literary products.
Egypt’s 1971 constitution clearly guarantees academic freedom. Article 18 states that “education is a right guaranteed by the state and mandatory in the primary stage . it guarantees the independence of universities… Article 49 further says that “the state guarantees the right of its citizens to pursue scientific research; literary, artistic and cultural creativity; and to provide the means to achieve these goals.
However, university laws and regulations neither meet the criteria of international covenants nor the Egyptian constitution when it comes to freedom of university education.
Those who demand university independence complain from the interference of security agencies in university matters, both with regards to the appointment of faculty and control over student activities. Security agencies have the power to block students affiliated with opposition groups from running in student elections, as well as the power to censor student activities, conferences and partnerships with third parties.
Although university regulations issued in 1972 require the university’s security personnel to wear a special uniform carrying the university logo, and are under the jurisdiction of the president of the university, the reality on the ground is quite the opposite.
In fact, the university administration operates in the shadow of security agencies. Since all university posts are filled by direct appointment – including the appointment of department heads, deans of faculties and the president – it follows that they must get security clearance.
The situation was exacerbated recently with the university being the battleground of the conflict between government and Islamist groups.
Caught between Islamic opposition currents and direct security intervention, educational institutions have lost their effectiveness as tools for change and freedom in society.
The Egyptian state clearly doesn’t seek to improve the state of freedom on campuses. It is more concerned with ensuring that Islamists fail to reach any positions of influence. It thus focuses on nipping any student activity in the bud, regardless of whether or not these activities are powered by Islamists.
Such extreme policies gradually marginalize educational institutions, which are no longer beacons of enlightenment but, on the contrary, become the fulcrum of negative social changes. On their part, political Islamic groups focus on grassroots activities to exert the necessary pressure on key bodies of authority.
Inside universities the tug-of-war continues between the government, with its pervasive security agencies, and Islamic currents which use subjugation and censorship. This leads to the oppression of the academic community.
The government justifies this oppression by claiming that it is defending the civilian state against Islamization, while Islamist currents mobilize the opposition against the tyranny of the security agencies in a quest for freedom simply to serve their own long term interests.
Hence secular currents are marginalized and muted. The government uses them discreetly to fight their Islamist rivals, but is careful not to provoke the wider popular base which it believes is entangled in the clutches of Islamism.
The secularists, however, prefer this limited leverage power to the complete exclusion by the Islamists, who disapprove of secularism both as a concept and as a political current.
On its part, the state oscillates from one side to the other, and at times of crisis steps in to silence Islamist or secular voices, ultimately consolidating its own authority.
Sameh Fawzy is an Egyptian journalist, Ph.D. researcher, and specialist in governance and citizenship.
