Egypt program could resume mid-March

An Egypt-based program of the Indiana University School of Law – Indianapolis, in partnership with Cairo University Faculty of Law in Egypt, could resume as early as mid-March, according to an e-mail from the program’s director to Indiana Lawyer.

“We are encouraged by the continuing stabilization in Egypt and impressed by many good steps taken by the transitional government,” Frank Emmert told IL Feb. 24. “The recent appointment of Ahmed Gamal El Din Moussa to the position of Minister of Higher Education is another positive sign for us. He is not only well qualified and untainted by the widespread corruption in the previous administration; he is also the father of one of our fourth cohort students.”

He continued, writing that if the situation “remains stable and further improvements continue to confirm our current positive outlook,” classes would resume March 13.

The program, the only one of its kind in Egypt that enables a student there to receive a degree equivalent to a master’s of law in the United States, shut down in late January following protests that started Jan. 25 in Cairo to overthrow previous president Hosni Mubarek, who officially stepped down Feb. 11.

Since then, Emmert and others involved with the program in Indianapolis have been in touch with professors and administrators in Egypt to determine when courses could resume. The program was suspended because during the protests, the regularly scheduled evening courses would have ended after the state-imposed curfew began, and there were concerns from some of the students that the streets would not be safe when they left the school at night.

Tahrir Square, the hub of the protests, is about one mile east of Cairo University.

A group of 63 students started classes Jan. 9. When the protests started Jan. 25, it was the last week of the first block of classes. The program has had students since January 2008. Each cohort has consisted of about 65 students.•