CAIRO: University professors threatened to start an open strike next month if the ruling military council failed to approve a draft law to discharge all university leaderships. The draft law would pave the way for elections before the beginning of the academic year. The strike would start on Sept. 17, the first day of the academic year. Professors criticized Prime Minister Essam Sharaf for "breaking his promise" of discharging university leaderships before August and reportedly promising university presidents in a meeting last Tuesday not to force them to resign. "We are not prepared to work with these corrupt leaderships and if they continue in their posts there will be no academic year," said Hany Al-Hosseiny, member of the March 9 Movement for the independence of universities. The president of Cairo University Hossam Kamel and presidents of Helwan, Fayoum and Al-Wadi Al-Gadeed universities resigned Tuesday before the end of their term. However, six other university presidents refused to resign, while the remaining eight stepped down because their legal term had ended, giving way to elections. Minister of Higher Education Moataz Khorshid said in press statements earlier that he will accept the resignations and that he does not have the authority to dismiss any university president. "We believe that the university is being underestimated by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and the government. Even the budget wasn't increased as promised; they seem to be unaware of the importance of education," Al-Hosseiny said. The decision to go on strike on the first day of the academic year came late Wednesday and was approved by the March 9 Movement, the Professors for Reform Movement and the Independent Teaching Syndicate. "After the revolution we received promises that our demands will be met in the summer and so we exerted a lot of effort to calm down students and professors," said Adel Abdel Gawad, founder of Professors for Reform, a movement affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. "The current situation is frustrating and we were blamed by our colleagues that we gave up, but now it won't be a one-day strike; we will hold a lot of events until our demands are met," he added. University presidents will be chosen through an electoral college system comprising a number of professors according to the size of the teaching staff of each faculty, while deans of faculties and department heads will be chosen through direct elections. The Supreme Council of Universities held a meeting on Thursday to approve the new system of choosing leaderships through elections. A number of deans and heads of departments were reluctant to resign raising fears among professors of chaos when the academic year begins. "We will have elected leaderships and appointed leaderships and we aren't sure if they will get along. This can't happen," Al-Hosseiny said. A number of employees at Cairo University led by ex-National Democratic Party members held a protest to ask Kamel to retract his resignation. Professors from across Egypt are set to hold an emergency meeting at Cairo University on Sept. 11 to discuss the current stand-off. CAIRO: University professors threatened to start an open strike next month if the ruling military council failed to approve a draft law to discharge all university leaderships. The draft law would pave the way for elections before the beginning of the academic year. The strike would start on Sept. 17, the first day of the academic year. Professors criticized Prime Minister Essam Sharaf for "breaking his promise" of discharging university leaderships before August and reportedly promising university presidents in a meeting last Tuesday not to force them to resign. "We are not prepared to work with these corrupt leaderships and if they continue in their posts there will be no academic year," said Hany Al-Hosseiny, member of the March 9 Movement for the independence of universities. The president of Cairo University Hossam Kamel and presidents of Helwan, Fayoum and Al-Wadi Al-Gadeed universities resigned Tuesday before the end of their term. However, six other university presidents refused to resign, while the remaining eight stepped down because their legal term had ended, giving way to elections. Minister of Higher Education Moataz Khorshid said in press statements earlier that he will accept the resignations and that he does not have the authority to dismiss any university president. "We believe that the university is being underestimated by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and the government. Even the budget wasn't increased as promised; they seem to be unaware of the importance of education," Al-Hosseiny said. The decision to go on strike on the first day of the academic year came late Wednesday and was approved by the March 9 Movement, the Professors for Reform Movement and the Independent Teaching Syndicate. "After the revolution we received promises that our demands will be met in the summer and so we exerted a lot of effort to calm down students and professors," said Adel Abdel Gawad, founder of Professors for Reform, a movement affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. "The current situation is frustrating and we were blamed by our colleagues that we gave up, but now it won't be a one-day strike; we will hold a lot of events until our demands are met," he added. University presidents will be chosen through an electoral college system comprising a number of professors according to the size of the teaching staff of each faculty, while deans of faculties and department heads will be chosen through direct elections. The Supreme Council of Universities held a meeting on Thursday to approve the new system of choosing leaderships through elections. A number of deans and heads of departments were reluctant to resign raising fears among professors of chaos when the academic year begins. "We will have elected leaderships and appointed leaderships and we aren't sure if they will get along. This can't happen," Al-Hosseiny said. A number of employees at Cairo University led by ex-National Democratic Party members held a protest to ask Kamel to retract his resignation. Professors from across Egypt are set to hold an emergency meeting at Cairo University on Sept. 11 to discuss the current stand-off.
