Farah Najjar - Staff Reporter

A disagreement has emerged between security staff and administrators following a number of thefts on campus, and a subsequent university requirement that background checks be completed on all such personnel.

On September 28, a number of security personnel approached The Caravan and revealed, on the condition o

Dalia, an Egyptian housekeeper and mother of two, considers the past few years of her life a miserable period as she suffered through the often humiliating experience of getting a court to grant her a divorce.

"It took four-and-a-half years," she said. "I've spent thousands of pounds to finally get divorced ... its aged me."

The AUC Administration is in the process of filing cases against students who were involved in yesterday morning’s altercation with security at Gate 4.

Student Union President Ahmed Alaa Fayed told the Caravan he heard from several sources that he and his vice president, Ahmed Ezzat, we

Director of Security Ashraf Kamal, who has recently been the center of controversy within the AUC community, has announced his resignation and will be ending his service by the end of the month.

In an email to the AUC community last Thursday, Vice-President for Planning and Administration Brian MacDougall said that Mahmoud Zouk, the executive director for public safety, will be “temporarily working directly with Security’s Supervisory team as he looks to strengthen and reshape the security service until the position of Director of Security is filled.”

A military court last Tuesday resumed hearing the case brought against AUC workers suspected of stealing  antiquities stored under Ewart Hall.

However, the details of the case have not been released to the public.

AUC’s lawyer Karim Abdel Latif confirmed that the suspects are university workers. Although he is on the university’s committee to investigate the thefts, Latif said he had not been informed of last week’s court proceedings.

AUC security staff have won considerable conces­sions from the Human Resources Office in their bid to introduce an employment and promotions regi­men based on qualification and merit.

They pressed their demands and grievances to Samir Riad, the HR executive director, and Ahmed El Rashidi, the HR staff relations director, in a meeting on

The process of investigating and uncovering the extent of State Security’s involvement with AUC, was long and frustrating.

When we interviewed Ashraf Kamal, the head of security on campus, he was extremely friendly initially. But when we began to ask questions he didn’t expect, regarding Hossam El-Hamalawy (also known as 3arabawy), he took a different tone and basically kicked us out, ending the interview abruptly but politely.

A hallmark to the institution’s shroud of secre­cy, the piles of shredded, burnt and crumbled doc­uments found in State Security buildings revealed the intricate network of intelligence-gathering that made the much feared apparatus seem almost om­nipresent.