Erosion of Academic Freedom in Sudan

KHARTOUM, Sudan — From his not-so-ivory tower, he witnessed Sudan’s defining moments: the fall of military dictators, the birth of a militant Islamic movement, the student protests that shook governments.

Professor Adlan al-Hardallu, who has spent 30 years at Khartoum University, is witnessing another such moment.

Seven years after an Islamic-based government took power, the university and other colleges in Africa’s biggest nation are losing a battle over their long-respected academic freedom.

The government is aggressively moving to curb their independence and purge students and professors opposed to the regime’s vision of a devout society, which includes Islamic dress codes and a more religious curriculum.

Universities that once made governments tremble with the activism of their students and faculty now are a final enfeebled obstacle to a government determined to eliminate any opposition, academics say.

“Khartoum University in the minds of these Islamists is the citadel of secularism in the country,” Hardallu said. “And some of them have called for dismantling this citadel.”

Hardallu’s office has no phone or computer. There’s an old air conditioner, but it is broken. The university isn’t getting enough money from the government to provide such things.

Lecture halls that once held 100 students are crammed with five times as many--sometimes more. There are fewer teachers and more students.

Some of Hardallu’s students sleep outside on the dusty campus grounds because they cannot afford rent. After the coup, the government did away with free housing for university students.

As if to ridicule Hardallu’s plight, his wristwatch doesn’t work.

It is a sad chapter for a university once considered one of the best in Africa and the Middle East.

Built in 1902 by the British, Khartoum University has figured in every power struggle since Sudan’s independence in 1956.

An uprising in 1964 that overthrew a military strongman began on campus. Two decades later, another rebellion gathered strength there, ending the 16-year tenure of another military leader.

Other universities like Nilein and Gezira shared Khartoum’s reputation for political activism and rigorous academics. Together, their independence became part of Sudan’s national mythology.

“We had debates, student activities and student politics incomparable to anything known in the region anywhere,” said Abdullahi al-Naim, a former law professor at Khartoum University who now teaches at Emory University in Atlanta.

Fearful of that freedom, the Islamic government that took power in 1989 set out to control the schools and “break the mystique,” Naim said.

The president, Lt. Gen. Omar al-Bashir, decreed that the number of students in the universities be doubled and that Arabic replace English as the language of instruction.

Dozens of professors were forced out, and police arrested people deemed campus troublemakers. The government now appoints the universities’ administrators, despite protests from staff and faculty, who had elected them.

All universities are required to teach Arabic and a course in Koranic studies.

The government defends the changes. It says the professors’ complaints stem from their loss of influence, not repression.

“It’s not the intention of anyone to weaken the role of the universities,” said Ghazi Salah-Eddeen, a leading force in Islamic politics.

Nevertheless, the schools are struggling.

Arabization forces professors to read aloud from English-language books and translate into Arabic because there are not enough texts in translation to distribute. Lecture halls have no chalk, and photocopying paper is in short supply.

Khartoum University’s vice chancellor, Hashim Mohammed al-Hadi, said the school has lost 40% of its professors since the coup. Some have been replaced by lecturers, whom critics say are not as qualified as those who left.

Salaries range from the equivalent of $30 a month to $60, and they increasingly are not paid on time--a testament to Sudan’s crumbling economy as much as government neglect.

The pay is higher than the $11.50 a typical government employee earns, but the level doesn’t reflect the prestige academics once enjoyed. And it is difficult to make ends meet. A pound of meat costs about 68 cents.

“Anyone not in the Islamic movement is contemplating--no, planning, not contemplating--leaving the universities,” said Ushari Mahmoud, a former linguistics professor at Khartoum University who left in 1989.

Despite the government’s campaign, dissent still rages on campus.

Last September, student protests at Khartoum University grew into the largest anti-government demonstrations since the coup. Students from other universities joined in street battles with security forces and Islamic militants that killed 30 people and injured 17, human rights groups say.

A popular chant was, “No to the merchants of religion.”

“There is no freedom,” said Khaled Ahmed Omar, a 25-year-old law student. “If you speak about politics, you’ll find yourself in a bad situation.”

Before enrolling, a student must complete 45 days of training in the Popular Defense Force, a militia that offers a healthy dose of Islamic indoctrination.

Women are pressured to wear the veil, although a fourth or so let their veils drop around their shoulders once they pass through the university gate and beyond the watchful eye of a guard who makes sure women dress “modestly.”

“When the university imposes it and says you have to do it, that’s when people refuse,” said Ranya Hassan, a 19-year-old student whose light brown scarf was down on her shoulders.

Sitting next to her, Hassan Mohammed, an engineering student, spoke freely of how he is waiting for students again “to pour into the streets.”

“The people are waiting for something,” he said.