{UAH} A letter to the Professor Mamdani and the MISR management

A letter to the Professor Mamdani and the MISR management

The aim of this letter is to respond to the recent attacks by the MISR management on "some students" who are allegedly motivated by an attempt to "dismantle" the MISR PhD program. It has to be noted that graduate students in MISR have been presenting their concerns and worries about the program as well as stating some of the unjust and undemocratic practices prevailing in the institute at least for the past three years. Students have been engaged in various activities in an attempt to make the institution stronger, better and more democratic in addition to building its stature as an institution whereby free academic exchange and critical thinking is appreciated and encouraged. Therefore, the April 18^th event is neither the first time nor are the said "few students" accused as culprits of this event (along with Dr. Nyanzi) were the only ones involved in petitions and political activism in the process of building MISR as an institution.

 

 

It is in light of this that I find it disheartening that rather than trying to address student concerns and using them to build a democratic institution the MISR management has been engaged in attempts to kill student morale for activism and their political commitment towards building an institution of such a promise and original vision. It is also sad to see that Professor Mamdani, the Director of the institution, who is otherwise a keen and perceptive analyst of colonial and authoritarian state power is targeting students, who have been courageous enough and have the integrity to express their opinions when they have differences with him. A school which through its training encourages students to be critical thinkers and "independent" scholars cannot at the same time prevent students from becoming independent scholars, who might have their own opinions not only on academic matters but also on the ways in which their institution is run. Critical thinking comes with the territory. Students will ask questions and should not be expected to toe the lines of their professors or those in position of power. 

 

One cannot help but wonder what kind of students the MISR's PhD program is producing and what kind of students it wants us to become when students who refuse to be well-adjusted to authoritarian leadership style and injustice have been consistently attacked and intimidated by the director, who obviously is in a position of power to shut down dissent. Students have been attacked due to the political positions they took in petitions and as student leaders in the now defunct student organization. The recent claim by the MISR management that one or a few students are responsible for the crisis that is plaguing the institution makes one doubt the commitment on its part to resolve the fundamental problems and challenges of the institution. And an institution which does not have the courage to face its challenges after careful and serious engagement with the real issues and by making a genuine effort to resolve them is then unable to make the most vital step towards ensuring its own growth and flourishing. MISR, which is an institution that was established with a remarkable vision and thus has the potential and promise to be a leading center of scholarship from an "African location", should have an honest reflection and determination to face its current problems, rather than resorting to false steps and "witch-hunting".

 

Moreover, it is bizarre to accuse students, who are part of the program as motivated by a desire to destroy it, while they of all parties, stand to lose the most if the program is "dismantled" simply because they are the ones who would find their studies stalled and their career jeopardized in such event. It is therefore whimsical to believe that any student would be interested in sabotaging their future studies, and along with it their careers. If at all there is any one group who wants the continuance of the MISR PhD program the most it is students. And this is true for ALL students!

 

In MISR it has now become customary and even mundane (as this week's communication from the MISR management testifies) that having a different opinion from the director is equated with interest to "dismantle" the institution. Much in the same way as those in position of political power that is too overbearing, unchecked and authoritarian, those who have different or dissenting opinions are portrayed as forces trying to "kill" the program. Such an environment where dissent is not tolerated and actively meted out is making MISR look like an institution whose stature cannot go beyond the stature of its director. Not only is the director presented as the saving grace of the institution (as this week's communications coming out of the MISR administration show), but his alleged indispensability is used as an argument to stifle dissenting voices directed at his leadership style. The result of all this is the creation of an academic climate infested with fear. The climate of fear that is hovering in MISR for years now has been detrimental to vibrant intellectual and political engagement that is geared towards the growth and development of the institution. By presenting any critique on the director as an attempt to kill or "dismantle" the PhD program, the MISR management largely succeeded in discouraging the flourishing of a democratic institutional culture. Most importantly, this has also been sowing divisions between students, by "defining" some as committed to the preservation of the program and others as trying to "kill it". This sadly is damaging to the building of a strong, open-minded institution that tolerates difference of opinions and does not see dissent as pathological, but rather uses it to draw its institutional strength.

 

What the inability of the institute to retain most of its faculty due to very high staff turnover since the beginning of the PhD program (6 have left in about three years time) shows is that MISR has not been given a chance to grow as a strong and confident institution where the role of the current director is depicted as indispensable for the continuance of the PhD program and its future flourishing. In a situation where there is but one senior academic who is seen as the only towering intellectual figure, a strong and stable institution cannot be realized. And if MISR is not making the necessary steps towards creating a more diversified core faculty (in seniority, reputation and profile), as well as a student body who is confident to express their opinions on academic as well as institutional matters, then this is nothing but primarily a reflection of the failure of its management.  

 

Considering that most of us "on coming to MISR", as a student petition (originally signed by 11 students) in August 2014 stated "felt we were coming to not only the best academic institution in Africa, but also the best place for African students to understand and engage the world from [an African location].  We are afraid we might not be able to keep these hopes alive." The same petition entreats the MISR management to look into the fundamental factors behind, what it saw us the declining and increasingly unharmonious academic atmosphere. The petitioners convey their aspirations in the MISR PhD program as follows, by comparing the actual conditions pertaining in MISR with their original hopes about the institution. "We had great hopes in this programme; there is no programme like it anywhere else on the continent…Our hopes were built on the strength of the programme, the spirit of camaraderie; the commitment of our professors, and the collective collegial decision-making, and the passion to do something different." Similarly I would like to conclude my letter by asking the director to recognize that the crisis facing our institution is not a work of some ill-intentioned students, or a recalcitrant research fellow. The current crisis is rather a reflection of a broader malaise in the institutional and academic culture of the institute which has been building for some time and thus requires much more serious engagement than incriminating dissent by those at a weaker position of power for the ills of the institute.  

Long live MISR! Long live courage!

 

semeneh 

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Rehema
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