From the Desk of the Chancellor, Feb. 14, 2011

Chancellor Charles R. Bantz View print-quality image

The historic events unfolding in Egypt have us thinking about our students, alums, and faculty who are being profoundly moved by what has happened during the protests that ultimately forced President Hosni Mubarak to step down last Friday. From near and far, they have watched a revolution take shape.

Randy Marsh, who was our student commencement speaker last year, is in graduate school at the American University in Cairo, pursuing a degree in international human rights law. His blog has offered his friends back home the opportunity to follow the news closely. Randy was a 2009-10 Cox Scholar pursuing a B.S. in Public Affairs and had two student internships as an undergraduate—one with Exodus Refugee Immigration, which helps people fleeing persecution find new lives in Indiana, and another in the Indianapolis Office of Senator Richard Lugar. Now he is watching history in the making from a front-row seat.

Mary Rizk, a 2009 School of Liberal Arts alumna, with a B.A. in economics and certificate in museum studies, was also in Egypt when demonstrations broke out. She lives only minutes from President Mobarik’s residence, which was the site of some of the most vociferous protests.

Dina Sherif, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in philanthropic studies at IUPUI, returned to Egypt to join the protests. She was on leave from American University in Cairo, her hometown, where she is associate director of the school's John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement. The founding director of the Gerhart Center, Barbara Ibrahim (graduate of DePauw and IUB), is the spouse of Saad Eddin Ibrahim, a prominent Egyptian human rights activist and scholar who was imprisoned in 2000 after speaking out against President Mubarak and now lives in exile in the U.S.

Unfortunately, uncertainties forced our School of Law to halt its program in Cairo. Professor Frank Emmert, executive director of our Center for International and Comparative Law and director of the Egypt program, returned to Indianapolis after teaching the first three weeks of the course. Our Master of Laws (LL.M.) program is funded by the United States Agency for International Development and was designed to help Egypt’s economy by training business lawyers.

Our hope is that these and other IUPUI colleagues and friends who are there remain safe and that they know how proud we are of their engagement in world events.

Comments? Write chancllr@iupui.edu.