Friday, February 18, 2011

The Best Ideas

I think some of the ideas from the faculty meeting were better than others. In particular, I liked ideas which focused on the educational advantage which AUC could provide to Egyptians. Here are my favorites. 

  1. 1. Re-Open Tahrir Square Campus of AUC
  2. 7. Use Tahrir Sq, campus of AUC for organized talks and debates on topics such as how elections were forged, and torture.
  3. 8.a Open up a dialogue with other Cairo universities.
  4. 8b. Create a mural commemorating the revolution on the science wall.
  5. 12. AUC should work on eradicating illiteracy in Egypt.
  6. *16. Each department should have a follow up to see what specifically it can do in terms of initiatives to support the revolution.
  7. *17. The Internet should never go out again. AUC should buy its own VSAT (Very small aperture terminal)
  8. *17a) AUC students should train citizens to combat electoral fraud.
  9. *19) (Dr. J) mobilize AUC alumni. Make corporations exercise true social responsibility.
  10. 20. (Rami Qubain)  Create a group to encourage toursim aggressively in Egypt.
  11. 21. Work closely with faculty in national universities.
  12. *22. Train election monitors at AUC.
  13. *23. Use equipment at the journalism department to educate the people. Create podcasts about elections and constitutions. Simplify information.
  14. *23b. Create community service announcements regarding elections and voting, and the constitution. (WMB Note, these were used to GREAT effect in Kenya in our recent constitution process)
  15. 24. National clearing house website for volunteers. Pool resources.
  16. *24a. Build system, offer solutions. Don't just tear down the system.
  17. 25. Teach people to be proactive.
  18. *26. Create an independent people's radio station not owned by the government or a foreign country. This should be FM, and hosted by AUC. (WMB Note. Most American universities in the US have these and they are a GREAT resource)
  19. 27. Utilize continuuing education at AUC to educate the public.
  20. 28. Bring Tahrir Square to AUC-create a free speech corner
  21. 32. Train people for elections.
  22. 33. Hold workshops on the ethical responsibilities of different professions.
  23. 34. Create crisis management forecasting for Egypt.
  24. 34a. AUC should partner with NGOs.
  25. *35. Hold constitutional convention sessions at AUC.
  26. 36. Stop the ongoing harassment of journalists.
  27. 37. AUC should be less top down. It should be more open. We need more faculty input.
  28. *38. (Dr. W) Look to African continent, particularly SA, Kenya and Ghana, for guidance on the process of democratization.
  29. *52. Workshops on how to conduct elections.
  30. *53. Awareness campaigns for democracy.
  31. 54, Support and sustain "New Egypt" behaviors, like civility, volunteerism, common defense.
  32. 55. Document the Revolution outside Tahrir Square.
  33. 56. Mobilize NGOs from other Governarates, not just Cairo.

5 comments:

  1. I like #24 stating that AUC should partner with NGOs and give students a chance to participate in organized and credible organizations that work to serve the community.

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  2. I agree with number 15 that AUC should work on eradicating illiteracy in Egypt.

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  3. The list is comprehensive and motivating, I agree to all its items. But I would also add a component focusing only on the Egyptian character psychological aspect; in my opinion both Mubarak regime and Egyptians are corrupt. We urgently need another revolution to overthrow our inherited immoralities which made the majority of youth at all socioeconomic segments apathetic, passive and fancy easy money. Yesterday I had class with Dr. Rasha Abdualla and she said that a spirit was born after the 25th revolution and now is our only chance to either invest in it or waste it. So we need to act fast so fast to create an outreach program to capitalize on our newly born spirit.

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  4. @ Jessica, Aya and Dalia, good points all of you. I think we do need to capitalize on the spirit of the revolution.

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  5. These are all great ideas. Are guys actually going to do these? Is there a second action plan meeting? I would love to attend such a meeting. Accordance to the conventional wisdom there 3 ingredients for a revolution: 1) high percentage of youth 2) especially educated youth 3) poverty. We got 1 and 3 in Egypt. I think increasing literacy rates would be a great way to contribute.

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