Egyptian college students protested the presence of “security forces” on their campuses which they regard as a barrier to being able to freely express views while on a college campus. They wanted the removal of all forces from the Interior Ministry from their daily lives and blamed the desire of the Egyptian government to seek controlling free speech in colleges. As some of the students noted: “Security bodies ban any and all political, cultural and intellectual activity inside universities. they want to create a generation of young people incapable of saying anything except ‘yes’ to Mubarak, senior and junior.” A complaint raised by protestors was the frequent punishment of critics by preventing them places in university dormitories.
There can not be a free atmosphere on a college campus if police are present and ready to step in to put down what they regard as a violation of peace on the campus. A university must have complete control over all aspects of life in a university even to the point of hiring its own security force. There is no room for police when freedom of speech is the issue.
