University in turmoil over student sackings

Dozens of students at the privately run German University in Cairo have been protesting for more than two weeks after five of their colleagues were dismissed in what the university said was disciplinary action.

The protesters started an open-ended sit-in outside the campus, joined by students from other universities as well as some parents and human rights activists. Some of the protesters embarked on hunger strike.

“We would like to tell the people that the university refuses to listen to us. The university has turned a deaf ear to us,” said Hassan Ziko, one of two students permanently sacked by the German University in Cairo (GUC) disciplinary committee.

“We must raise our voice. If we do not, it will be silenced for the rest of our lives,” Ziko, a four-year engineering student, told supporters.

Protesters said that the university ‘arbitrarily’ reacted to their demand that a memorial carrying the name of Egypt’s former President Hosni Mubarak be removed and replaced with another carrying the name of Karim Khuzam, a GUC student who was among 74 Egyptians killed in February in football-related rioting in the coastal city of Port Said.

A popular revolt forced Mubarak to step down a year ago, after nearly 30 years in power.

During a commemoration for slain student Khuzam, held on the campus on 18 February, students chanted slogans against Egypt’s military rulers, whom they accused of dragging their heels on prosecuting those involved in the Port Said rioting, Egypt’s worst football tragedy.

The protesters said they forwarded their request to the university’s administration, and were shocked when five students were punished – three suspended for two weeks and two others sacked.

The university has denied that the suspensions were in response to students’ political views. It accused some students of stirring up rioting, and jeopardising the safety of other students and buildings on campus.

“This has led the university to take necessary measures to maintain the dignity of its academic faculty members and to ensure their safety, as well as the safety of its students,” said GUC President Mahmoud H Abdel Kader in a declaration on 1 March.

The suspended students, according to the university, had behaved badly during investigations into the campus disruptions. It said students, whether they had been temporarily or permanently expelled, had been summoned and formally warned by a disciplinary committee.

They “were expelled due to verbally abusing and insulting the disciplinary committee in a way unacceptable from a university student – and not on account of the students’ political inclinations.”

The university also terminated the contract of a teaching assistant following last month’s anti-military protests.

Abdel Kader said the teaching assistant was not sacked due to his opposition to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces that has been ruling Egypt since Mubarak’s ouster.

“He violated the duties of his position that require utter objectivity towards all students as he aggressively attacked the current student union in an e-mail in which he accused them [the union] of being illegal and traitors to the students’ struggle,” said Abdel Kader in a statement in English.

The student union resigned en masse over the administration's refusal to reinstate the suspended students, local media reported on Thursday.

Several opposition political groups and lawmakers in Egypt have voiced support for students who have been protesting against what they say is continuing oppression, reminiscent of the Mubarak era.

MP Mustafa al-Nagar said he would ask the Ministry of Higher Education, which supervises all higher education institutions in Egypt, to scrap “these arbitrary measures”.