The Role of Arab Universities in Democratic Transitions

Barbara Lethem Ibrahim

Egypt’s January 25th movement for change was unique in the extent to which it was shaped and sustained by youth. The call for a demonstration against police brutality in early 2011 was made on Facebook, and soon had over 75,000 mostly young participants pledging to attend. The organizers and most of those who came out on the first days of the demonstrations were under 30 and most were university educated. Over the course of 18 days millions of others including labor activists, religious leaders and ordinary Egyptians joined the young protesters. When asked ‘why now?’ when they had avoided previous anti-regime demonstrations, many said it was out of respect for the young activists’ courage and peaceful methods.  

Virtually no one predicted the timing or composition of that uprising which toppled a 30 year old regime. Most popular images of contemporary youth had in fact cast them as apathetic, focused only on personal aspirations, or overly religious. A similar narrative dominated public discussion in Tunisia, Yemen and other Arab countries that are now undergoing profound political change. However, had one been closely observing university campuses across the region, a number of indications were present that foreshadowed the events of the past three months.

From a vantage point in Cairo, I could see the ways in which universities were serving as ‘incubators’ for youthful activism. Our university-based center for civic engagement had been following these trends since 2006. My observations below on the Egyptian experience could equally apply in other Arab countries undergoing their own transitions. In all cases, universities are incubating young agents of change, and their ongoing role in the aftermath of fallen regimes will be vital. Bringing down the old order is a huge first step. Perhaps of greater significance if democratic progress is not to be reversed is the longer process of changing cultural practices and entrenched institutions. Universities are now poised to play important roles in the nation-building efforts that lie ahead.

Incubators of change

The Arab region has suffered from a democracy deficit since modern countries emerged from colonial rule in the mid-twentieth century. Non-elected presidents drawn from the ranks of the military undermined once-vibrant civil societies or prevented their development. Media, political organizations, professional associations and labor unions were closely controlled. In the past few years, even young bloggers and those using social networking media for political expression were subject to arrest and imprisonment.  

In that environment, universities have also been compromised. However, to some extent they are also relatively protected spaces with some margin for free expression. Degrees of freedom differed greatly. Private universities like the American University in Cairo are small in size relative to the overall system of national universities and operate with a high degree of autonomy. Their students and programs resemble typical U.S. liberal arts institutions, except that no participation in politics has been allowed on campus. The system of national universities is much larger and state-controlled. The number of young Egyptians engaging in higher education today is staggering – a single campus of Cairo University alone has over 300,000 full-time students. National universities operate with state-appointed chancellors, deans, and budgets. Control extends to the curriculum as well; only one national university awards degrees in political science. Nonetheless, classrooms on most campuses in Egypt were relatively unmonitored. Professors were able to expose students to social and economic problems, teach critical thinking and encourage civic engagement – even voice some political critique – as long as it was not combined with political activism.

One example is illustrative. In 1999 a young computer science professor in Cairo took his students on a field trip to a poor urban neighborhood, and that galvanized students to form a community service club. Resala has grown to include over 92,000 young volunteers in tens of chapters today. Similar groups were forming in other Egyptian universities where students found volunteering to be a safer form of participation than politics. They were nonetheless learning to organize, be disciplined and work together for a public cause. Other outlets for democratic learning were available through student unions and academic clubs; on most national university campuses they were allowed to campaign and hold elections. In recent years, however, the complaints about interference from security authorities grew and only student groups that stayed away from religion, human rights, or politics could operate. Even Resala’s campus chapters were closed when membership began to grow rapidly. The struggle of faculty and students to rid their campuses of state security interference was part of the preparation for subsequent street activism.

So while not fully-democratic institutions, national universities were still operating as incubators for participation and social learning in ways that were suppressed in other parts of society. Campuses were ideal places to meet like-minded fellow students, become internet savvy, observe the stifling effects of repression, and debate national concerns. One can argue that what was happening over the past decade in Egyptian universities was the creation of a generation of youth who were not simply educated for the market, but also ready to be mobilized for change.

From aware to engaged to mobilized

It was a small number of university students and graduates who planned and led the January 25th movement at the outset. These individuals were part of underground or virtual groups that were well-organized and focused on political change. But in order to achieve critical mass, those leaders had to recruit hundreds of thousands of others. For that task, Facebook and other social media were ideal because of their immediacy and the viral spread of information. Whereas previous demonstrations had garnered a few thousand participants at most, the call to come to Tahrir Square, when taken up and spread on Facebook, reached tens of thousands more.  

Eventually hundreds of thousands of young Egyptians participated in street protests across the country and millions more avidly followed on television. Even after the fall of the regime, they showed a willingness to remobilize on the streets to express displeasure over aspects of proposed reforms. This generation will now have high expectations for rapid improvement in their everyday lives. Within weeks of Mubarak stepping down, demonstrations had moved to campuses of the national universities. Students refused to attend classes until allegedly-corrupt deans were removed. Student union elections were re-organized in an open environment free of police interference. At a time when every aspect of public life is under new scrutiny, national universities are facing pressure to change. They will also be expected to assist in the country-wide project of preparing Egyptians to exercise citizenship and elect responsive leaders.

University roles in transition

In the coming period, universities can play at least two important national roles. One is to model the sort of democratic and merit-based institutions that Egyptians aspire to in other spheres. Administrators can become more transparent about decision-making and include students and staff more fully in deliberations that affect the entire community. There are models for this in the Arab region. Birzeit University in the West Bank of Palestine has a single union representing all employees, whether faculty, staff or administrators. The union is fully engaged in key decision-making across the institution. Elections within the union are free, fair, and hotly contested. Students will expect to have their views and interests more fully represented as well in campus decision-making.  

A second way that universities can contribute is by elevating the principle and practice of service. In the spirit of building new societies, faculty who engage in community or national service need to receive recognition from the university and appropriate credit toward promotion and tenure. Faculty who are called upon for research, policy or other advisory service to government can include their students and thus expose them to the importance of public engagement. Service learning as an effective classroom pedagogy will also take on new significance. Students have long been drivers of change toward learning that is experiential and moves beyond the campus walls. With every aspect of society now subject to reform and improvement, the opportunities for students and their teachers to be engaged in service are virtually limitless.

Arab universities can learn from experiences with building effective campus civic engagement elsewhere. At a regional level there is already keen interest in exchange and peer learning, especially among faculty eager to reshape their course content. We hope that the Ma’an Arab University Alliance for Civic Engagement, a new regional network within Talloires will increase its contacts with member universities around the world. We can learn from each other and share best practice from the many previous national experiences with transitions to democracy.

Finally, it will be necessary for all members of the academic community to engage in an open debate about the place of politics in the academy. Under the guise of ‘no politics’ Arab universities gave up one of their crucial roles in an open society, that of providing critical analysis of public life. Corruption reached inside the academy, so that plagiarism, cronyism and turning a blind eye to misuse of power became routine. A healthy debate is beginning about the need to preserve universities as learning environments while protecting free expression. Universities have a unique window of opportunity to institutionalize new policies on expression, conflict of interest, fairness and equity, as well as academic integrity. That will be an essential part of securing for future generations the fragile democratic opening that has been achieved over recent weeks.    

Cairo, April 2, 2011

Barbara Ibrahim is Director of the John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement at the American University in Cairo