BY HANK REICHMAN
This week the New York Times reported that the University Senate at American University in Cairo (AUC) had on February 5 “voted overwhelmingly” to declare no confidence in the university’s president, Francis Ricciardone, a former United States ambassador to Egypt, Turkey and the Philippines and Palau. In the resolution, the Times reported, the Senate said the institution’s faculty had “lost faith in Mr. Ricciardone’s stewardship of the university and urged its New York-based board of trustees to immediately begin the search for a successor.” The action came after a speech on the campus by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, which, according to the Times, “sided with the autocrats who dominate the Middle East and played down the Arab Spring protests that upended the region in 2011.” But tensions had been developing for some time before the speech. The following description of the situation and email exchange is published courtesy of AUC Associate Professor of History Pascale Ghazaleh. Texts of the resolution of no-confidence and an accompanying resolution follow.
For the past two years, tensions have been rising at the American University in Cairo over issues related to management. Faculty say the administration has taken a series of unilateral decisions without consulting or informing the university senate; indeed, senate resolutions are now routinely ignored and contravened. The university is undergoing restructuring in accordance with recommendations more suited to a corporation than to an academic institution. One goal seems to be to reduce job security and impose precarity as a fact of life at AUC; another seems to be to institute disregard for the faculty, students, and staff. The faculty handbook is a subject of particular contention, the university’s president having opined that it is “not binding.” As these and other conflicts were simmering, the president agreed to host US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the university’s campus. The visit was organized in secrecy, with the logistics and guest list being handled by the US Embassy. The university community was largely unaware of the event until after it had occurred. Some of the faculty protested at this highhanded use of the campus and the failure to honor the principle of free speech by presenting the community with a fait accompli. Below is an exchange of emails between one member of faculty and the university’s president that ensued after the visit had taken place.
January 12, 2019
Dear AUC Community:
AUC served Thursday afternoon as the venue for US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo’s address on US policy toward the MENA region. The occasion offered us the opportunity to inform a global audience that AUC has served the citizens of Egypt and the wider Arab world as a beacon of inquiry-based American liberal-arts education, and generations of American scholars as the most inviting portal to this welcoming heart of the Arab world. Secretary Pompeo noted that “this year marks 100 years since the founding of this institution, and the AUC is more than just a university. It is an important symbol of America’s friendship with Egypt and what binds our people together; a modern place of learning in the midst of an ancient civilization with its own rich history of artists, poets, and intellectuals.”
While we at AUC join world audiences in analyzing and debating the content of Secretary Pompeo’s speech, the fact that the US Department of State requested AUC to serve as the venue carries several positive messages. The first is that AUC, on the eve of its Centennial, continues to serve as a pre-eminent global marketplace for ideas and a forum for free debate of the most important issues of our times. Second, the US Government’s confidence in the safety and security of our campus and Cairo is an encouraging message as we invite still more Americans and others to come to study at our fine University in this dynamic country.
Let me also share with the AUC community my appreciation for the superb support provided behind the scenes by AUC students, faculty and staff in hosting this world media event. Without publicity, Mrs. Pompeo met with AUC and Ain Shams University student beneficiaries of USAID-funded scholarship and career mentorship programs. We all can take pride also that the University continued deliberately to operate entirely normally during the visit: classes continued as usual; security was unobtrusive and professional; our cleaning and maintenance staff ensured that standing-room only Moataz Al Alfi Hall and the larger campus sparkled in crisp, clear January sunshine; local and international media representatives appreciated our exemplary technical support, coordination and care; student ambassadors escorted Secretary and Mrs. Pompeo and numerous other visiting dignitaries, including the Minister of Higher Education, MPs, and religious and business leaders; our events and protocol staff delivered clockwork organization and collaboration with US officials from Washington and the US Embassy over the past two weeks — including holidays and very late nights. Our visitors and the US Embassy leadership all warmly expressed their appreciation for our support.
I thank and commend all our students, faculty and staff whose exemplary teamwork demonstrated AUC’s excellence both to our visitors and to the world.
Sincerely,
Francis J. Ricciardone
President
January 13, 2019
Dear President Ricciardone,
I do not believe I am the only member of the AUC “community” who was taken by surprise at the news that Mike Pompeo was speaking at the university. Were any of the members of our community consulted as to whether it was a good idea to bring a former CIA director who has spoken in favour of torture to AUC? Was AUC’s standing in the wider community taken into account in this decision, and were all the implications of associating AUC with the US State Department understood?
I deplore the policy that makes it acceptable to organise such events without the prior knowledge of the community as a whole. Visits that require such tight security arrangements and such secrecy are surely not to AUC’s ultimate benefit. Nor does it stand to reason that an association with the CIA can be beneficial to the university’s reputation at this historical moment. I cannot fathom how anyone might have thought otherwise.
Sincerely,
Pascale Ghazaleh, PhD
Chair, Department of History
January 14, 2019
Dear Professor Ghazaleh,
Thank you for your email conveying your concerns about AUC having served as the venue for Secretary Pompeo’s address on American foreign policy in the Middle East, and the administrative processes through which we took the decision that this was in the best interests and indeed, the highest traditions of AUC.
I am confident that our faculty share our University’s commitment to the fundamental principle of freedom of expression. With the advantage of the pivotally important world capital of Cairo as our home, our University has often served as an attractive global and regional marketplace for diverse and authoritative voices, sometimes bearing controversial or unpopular ideas. We highly value our international reputation as such.
Throughout AUC’s history, speakers of international standing have stimulated reflection and free debate on our campus and beyond. I respect your strongly-held convictions in opposition to American foreign policy. Indeed, several members of our faculty and a member of our Board of Trustees have spoken incisively and articulately on these matters in leading American national news media. I was pleased to learn that other faculty members are developing appropriate fora on campus in the coming days to further analyze and debate the import of the US Secretary of State’s provocative remarks.
Francis J. Ricciardone
President
January 14, 2019
Dear Mr. Ricciardone,
Thank you for your reply to my letter of protest. Please allow me to clarify four important points:
1. I do not share your view of the university as a marketplace. Indeed, I feel that the fact that you view it as such indicates a far deeper disagreement over the role and position of the university as a place of research and learning. It is certainly a forum for intellectual exchange, not a market where ideas or other commodities are bought and sold.
2. Had your wish been to honour the principle of free expression, you would have ensured that the US Embassy did not impose Mr.Pompeo’s visit upon AUC. Had the desire to guarantee freedom of expression been the main motive here, the members of the AUC community would have been consulted as to whether we wanted Mr. Pompeo to visit our campus to make his speech on the US’s Middle East policy. If freedom of expression were the point, you would have publicised your decision to invite Mr.Pompeo and opened it to debate well in advance of his visit. This clearly did not occur. Instead, the visit was organised in secrecy, and publicised after the fact. A select few members of the community were invited through the US Embassy; yet AUC students and staff were recruited to serve in this event, at a time when our budget is said to be straining under multiple pressures. In what way could this serve AUC? It is disingenuous to portray my objections as somehow contrary to a spirit of free expression.
3. In a similar vein, my opinion of the US’s foreign policy is irrelevant here. I reiterate: I and other members of the AUC community object to being made unwitting and uninvited hosts for a visit of which we were not even notified. I and other members of the AUC community object to our campus being used as an outpost for the US Embassy. That Mr.Pompeo is an advocate of torture and the representative of a belligerent US administration is entirely beside the point. We can debate the content of his speech to our hearts’ content; the point is that he should have made it elsewhere. Furthermore, Mr. Ricciardone, it is not up to any single individual to determine which fora are appropriate or inappropriate for debating this or other topics.
4. Press coverage of Mr. Pompeo’s speech was, on the whole, negative. AUC is now tainted by association, and it will take considerable efforts to repair the damage it has caused, not least within Egypt.
Sincerely,
Pascale Ghazaleh, PhD
Chair, History Department
Resolution of No Confidence In the President of the American University in Cairo
Whereas: Faculty, staff and administrators at the American University in Cairo (AUC) are committed to creating an environment conducive to learning and knowledge creation, where the student education is fundamental to the mission of the University;and
Whereas: President Ricciardone has declared that the Faculty Handbook is not binding, even though it is an integral part of the Faculty contracts. Furthermore, he has pressured the provost(s) to issue contracts that are not aligned with
the current Faculty Handbook; and
Whereas: President Ricciardone has meddled with the well-established tenure process of the University, and with no good reason or explanation has reversed decisions made by the whole academic area including the then provost Dr. Sherif Sedky; and
Whereas: President Ricciardone is unwilling to acknowledge the severity of the problems of fear and distrust among employees; and
Whereas: Draconian security measures have led repeatedly to denying access to AUC Faculty, external theses’ examiners and guests. Furthermore, CCTV cameras have been installed in halls used for open events and the hosting
of public speakers, in a clear conflict to the rules of the University and to the principles of freedom of expression;and
Whereas: President Ricciardone has abandoned well-established shared governance practices, declining to consult on many occasions with University Senate Committees before making decisions and implementing them. In addition, the President has ignored many Senate resolutions sent to him and did not respond to them; and
Whereas: The lack of shared governance has resulted in an erosion of the academic area, which is at the heart of the mission of the university; and
Whereas: The administration has repeatedly refused to deal fairly with faculty and staff regarding financial matters; and
Whereas: There have been several incidents of lack of transparency and lack of due process regarding certain events, agreements, and arrangements in which the premises of the University have been used by external entities; and
Whereas: A General Faculty Meeting was held on February 3rd, 2019 to allow the faculty to voice their views of the current problems and to express their concerns. This meeting was a result of a majority vote of the Senate at the December 11, 2018 meeting. The opinions of the faculty were in support of the issues listed above. At the end of the General Faculty Meeting, the attending faculty put forward a motion requesting the University Senate to hold a vote of
no confidence in the President of AUC. This motion was passed overwhelmingly by 90%; and
Resolved: That the University Senate of the American University in Cairo has no confidence in the ability of President Francis J. Ricciardone, who is presiding over the current administration, to lead AUC in a manner that enables our faculty, staff, and administrators to educate and serve our students; and be it further
Resolved: That the University Senate will welcome a new President who embraces shared governance in action as well as in words, transparency, and mutual trust and respect, and will work actively to correct the issues identified in this resolution; and be it further
Resolved: That copies of the resolution be sent to Chairman Bartlett, the Board of Trustees, the Student Union, the AUC Workers’ Syndicate, the University Counselor, and AUC President Francis J. Ricciardone.
Resolution of the Way Forward After the Votes of No Confidence in AUC President
Whereas: At the General Faculty Meeting that was held on February 3rd, 2019, a motion requesting the University Senate to hold a vote of no confidence in the President of AUC was passed overwhelmingly by 90%; and
Whereas: The University Senate has just passed a motion, with 80% vote, of no confidence in the ability of President Francis J. Ricciardone, who presides over the current administration, to lead AUC in a manner that enables our faculty, staff, and administrators to educate and serve our students; and
Whereas: There are contractual discrepancies for newly hired faculty and personnel; and
Whereas: Attempts have been made to illegally discriminate among faculty based on national origin; and
Whereas: There is an immediate need to reinstate the principles and practice of shared governance at AUC; and
Whereas: There is an immediate need to establish a common link of communication between the Board of Trustees and the University Senate; and
Whereas: Many universities in the United States have faculty representatives on their Boards of Trustees; and
Whereas: The Board of Trustees appears to have been either misinformed or not informed of many of what has been going on at AUC for the past two years.
Therefore, be it
Resolved: That the Board of Trustees declares the Faculty Handbook (FHB) version of 2015 binding, with the understanding that the current ongoing revisions of that FHB shall be continued; and be it further
Resolved: That the Board of Trustees does not renew the term of the current President beyond the end of June 2020, and that the Board of Trustees will adopt clear succession plans including starting the search for a new president this coming summer; and be it further
Resolved: That the University Senate calls on the Board of Trustees to establish a direct open dialogue with the University Senate to deal together with the various problems currently facing the University; and be it further
Resolved: That two elected faculty representatives be added as voting members of the Board of Trustees with staggering terms; and be it further
Resolved: That all contracts of faculty hired since Spring 2017 be revised in order that they comply with the Faculty Handbook; and be it further
Resolved: That No university policies are implemented without being vetted and approved by the University Senate; and be it further
Resolved: That fairness in financial matters regarding faculty and staff be upheld and practiced; and that all discriminatory decisions and actions based on gender and nationality be abolished; and be it further
Resolved: That the Faculty Service Office goes back to the Provost Office and resumes carrying out the same duties as before; and be it further
Resolved: That copies of this resolution be sent to Chairman Bartlett, the Board of Trustees, the Student Union, the AUC Workers’ Syndicate, the University Counselor, and AUC President Francis J. Ricciardone.
