"The Pharaoh has drowned—let democracy sail," Muqtedar Khan, a political science and international relations professor, said last week. Professor Khan, along with four other colleagues, spoke on a panel in Pearson Hall about the recent political revolution in Egypt to students and faculty.
The panel, held on Feb. 15, included many of the students returning from the university's study abroad trips to Egypt and Morocco.
Khan said the events in Egypt have catalyzed a profound psychological impact on the Arab psyche. He said individuals between the ages of 20 and 30 years old especially helped push this movement forward.
"They became conscious in a sea of despair," he said. "These are Muslims who want to have the most important of human qualities—to make their own destiny."
At the panel, history professor Rudi Matthee, the director of Islamic studies at the university, said while this change was certainly "a belated cry for human dignity" and should still call for celebration, it is not sufficient to focus solely on the ideals.
"The words 'let freedom ring' won't do here," Matthee said.
According to Matthee, it is Egypt's economy that will have the last word; the new Egypt's success depends strongly on finding income with accountability and maintaining its strength as the economic centerpiece of the Arab world. There is no easy road to democracy, he said, and Egypt is facing small margins for total success despite the progress it has already made.
Yasser Arafat Payne, a black American studies professor and faculty adviser for the BAMS study abroad trip to Egypt this winter, discussed his and his students' first-hand experiences with Egypt's changes.
"This was a victory for all marginalized and oppressed people," Payne said.
Despite his support for the cause, he was nervous for his students' well-being. He recalled hearing that a man who had been living in the same dorms as his students had left to attend the demonstrations and later came home from the hospital with stitches.
Payne said the tense situation caused the students in his group to bond as a family. These experiences were a real-world demonstration of what the students had been learning about in class: the ancient Egyptian notion of Ma'at—the balance, righteousness, reciprocity and harmony for the country and for the world over.
At the panel, Ikram Masmoudi, an Arabic language and culture professor, cited Tunisia's path toward revolution as the main mechanism for Egypt's new beginnings. She said Tunisia's and Egypt's recent developments are representations of good use of social media.
Masmoudi said Tunisia's people only began to rally for change after street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in protest of cruelty and humiliation allegedly inflicted on him by the police. Bouazizi's actions sparked a revolution in Tunisia, which became a catalyst for Egypt's own reform, she said.
"He was yearning for respect," Masmoudi said.
Audrey Helfman, a professor in the School of Urban Affairs, was the faculty adviser for the leadership studies trip to Egypt and Morocco this winter. Helfman had corresponded with Nermeen, a student living in Egypt who witnessed the changing dynamics first-hand. Nermeen described her emotions throughout the revolutionary process in an e-mail which Helfman read to the audience at the panel discussion.
Nermeen said in the e-mail to Helfman that her hope waxed and waned as the demonstrations and police interaction grew more violent and disruptive, but she reached a moment of clarity as she participated in the demonstrations.
"I regained my hope when I realized that we were ready to die for our cause, but the policemen were not," Nermeen wrote in the e-mail. "They were not even prepared to wound themselves in defense of Mubarak's cause."
It was through this process, Helfman said, that students such as Nermeen were able to rediscover their love for Egypt.
Khan is hopeful this change in Egypt would instill in its witnesses the concept of democracy as a norm in the Middle East.
"As witnesses to this change, they have been changed," he said. "Now people feel they can do it too."