Rana Kamaly - Staff Reporter

Middle East analysts have always pointed to the Iranian Revolution as a means of warning against the rise of political Islam. Events in Iran redrew the geopolitical map in the region. Since the January 25 Revolution, politically active Islamist groups have come out of the woodwork and started campaigning ahead of elections in September. Part and parcel of the democratic process, it is still unclear how much power these groups will wield.

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.

The Caravan’s investigation into the recent theft of antiquities has revealed that in a period spanning several decades AUC faculty and officials collected more than 1,600 artifacts described by Egyptology experts to be ‘of no great significance’ in value.

(Six suspects have been arrested in the theft of the antiquities stored below Ewart Hall - click here)

Ironically, the theft of some of these items brought to light the previously unknown cache stored beneath Ewart Hall.

Renowned Egyptologist and professor emeri­tus Kent R. Weeks told The Caravan that “the ob­jects in Ewart Hall were acquired by then-President Richard Pederson, who for some reason thought it would be nice to have a teaching collection of an­tiquities on campus.”

“Students know it as ‘the Office of Student De­pression,” the student told Anderson.

Students and the administration continue to debate whether the glass plaque carrying the name of Su­zanne Mubarak should be removed, and the hall dedicated to the former first lady renamed.

The plaque stands by the H.E. Suzanne Mu­barak Conference Hall in the interior of the HUSS building. Some AUC students such as Omar Omar have petitioned for the removal of the plaque, and have called on administration to becom more trans­parent regarding their financial situation and funds.

Senior members of the administration, includ­ing Vice-President for Student Affairs, Ashraf El-Fiqi, and Senior Advisor to the President Mary Iskander, told The Caravan that AUC has never re­ceived any donations or funds directly from former president Hosni Mubarak’s family. Mubarak’s outer circle or government was more likely to have made these donations.

With a closed stock market, and a tourism industry in decline, the January 25 Revolution has produced unintentional economic side-effects leading to the beginning of financial instability for Egypt’s private sector.

In the face of new economic challenges, private companies have resorted to deducting salaries and discharging employees, leaving those still employed fearful for their jobs.