Portfolio

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Portfolio RHET 201 By Yannik Maximilian Schneider

900101819

19. December 2011

Instructor Michael Gibson

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RHET 201 - Research Writing –Fall 2011

Research Writing – these words were the only things I could refer to when I first entered the classroom this semester, even though the term “Research Writing” was more a vague expectation of what is coming up then a specific idea. The only thing I knew for sure was that this course being a requirement to finally declare myself journalism major in the next semester.

Now three months, around 8000 written words and plenty of hours practicing various research methods later, I can proudly say – I have a really precise idea of research writing, even though it seems that all this was more a preparation than the actual thing I feel prepared for future research writing. This course gave me the feeling that I finally arrived at a high academic level of addressing scientific topics. I could choose my own topic to focus on and more or less my own way of dealing with it. I spoke with professors, gathered sources, prepared surveys and wrote my own research paper, if this what it means to be a student I am looking forward to it.

This writing experience is also quite different to the journalistic writing I am used to and I was really surprised how different it felt to really dig deep into a topic gather a broad knowledge of it and produce something. I also have to admit, that I often had to realize how bordered my English skills still are and wished plenty of times to just have a perfect translating machine making it possible to write in German – but that how one improves and next time Incha Allah it will be easier.

The portfolio is structured according to the importance of the papers. Obviously I started with the “research paper” followed by my responds to Joselyn Doss’s paper. After that I included two papers concerning the AUC strike in the beginning of the semester. The first one is the original assignment and the second an analysis of the final outcome of the strike. The last paper attached is the first piece of work for RHET 201 an elaborated form of my spontaneous thoughts about the terms “hope” and “fear”.

I am not a big fan of half finished work and work in process; therefore I did not include the intermediate steps of the final papers I included. I would argue that the portfolio has a higher aesthetic value without all these incomplete work pieces.

Thank you for your encouragement, help and advising throughout the semester Professor Gibson! It was a pleasure!

Best,

Max

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Table of Content:

Page Number Content

1 Cover sheet

2 Cover letter

3 Table of Content

4-‐24 Research Paper: Gasoline subventions in Egypt - The necessity of change

25-‐26 Response to the research paper “Should Inter-faith Marriages be Avoided?” by Joselyn Doss

27-‐29 Strike at AUC – a personal statement

30-‐31 A conclusion of the AUC strike and an analysis

of the final outcome

32 “Hopes and Fears”

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Yannik Maximlian Schneider

Research paper

Mike Gibson

18. November 2011

Gasoline subventions in Egypt - The necessity of change

The history of subsidies to energy products in Egypt reaches back to the early beginnings

of fossil resource consumption. Since fossil resources are one of the key determinates to

encourage consumption and reduce production costs significantly, these subsidies as

price controlling policies have been important contributors to Egypt’s economic growth

in the last centuries. (www.egyptoil-gas.com) Egypt as a self supplier and exporter of

natural gasoline was able to satisfy its own demand, with gasoline prices significantly

lower than the world price, as well as still earning decent revenue by selling the

production surplus on the world market. Even though gasoline subventions were useful in

the past decades the failure in readjusting the prices, in order to balance the high increase

in population growth and the reaching of the peak exploitation (see table 1a and table 2a)

resulted in major problems – still Egypt is the country with the third lowest gas price in

the whole world.

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Table 1a)

Table 2a)

Those major problems are significant financial deficits, encouragement of energy

inefficiency and the support of the critical traffic situation.

In 2010 the former Egyptian Minister for Finances Sameh Fahmy stated:

"Subsidies in petroleum and natural gas products have grown to unsustainable levels

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which form a significant burden on the petroleum sector." He also announced that the

cost of the various subsidy programs maintained by the government are equal to more

than a third of the general government spending. Particularly the gasoline prices are part

of this cost factor.( www.af.reuters.com) Reasons for the development of this problematic

situation are a rapid increase in population, which caused the domestic consumption to

exceed the domestic production and the high growth of world price compared to the slow

increase of domestic prices. (Business Monitor) Therefore the gasoline subvention policy

now results in a significant deficit in state finances as well as immense externality

cost(measure of the costs of the other negative side effects for society caused by gasoline

consumption). In the report “Egypt - toward a more effective social policy: subsidies and

social safety net” an estimated number of 38.5 billion LE is given as the in all cost for the

government. It is also concluded; that the Egyptian economy reached the critical point of

overall costs being much higher than the overall benefits. (The World Bank) Based on an

economical policy making rules the amount of gasoline subsidies is impossible to justify,

which underlines the urgent necessity of change.

Not only economic numbers show the grievance caused by the Egyptian gas

prices, but also the current low prices encourage high energy inefficiency, which leads to

a high burden on the environment (The World Bank), as well as an unacceptable traffic

situation. According to the paper “Untold billions: Fossil-Fuel subsidies, their impacts

and the path to reform” a decrease of subsidies could result in a decrease of up to 20

percent of the co2 emission. (The Global Subsidies Initiative)

Regarding the traffic, one major problem is that the incentive to switch from an

old gasoline-wasting vehicle to a new hybrid vehicle is simply not given. One rather stays

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with the old one, since the incentive of saving money thanks to smaller gasoline

consumption does not exist. As well as the choice between a new energy wasting or a

new fuel saving one is currently not influenced by energy efficiency considerations. Even

though there are other key factors related to the Egyptian traffic, the determination of

gasoline as a cost factor for car owners encourages the use of old transport vehicles

equipped with old or non functional safety systems, driving with high speed and a high

traffic emergence. Egypt is with 41.6 traffic deaths per 100 000 population the country

with the highest traffic related death rate in the whole world. (Murray) The high traffic

emergence and the thereby caused traffic jams in the capital Cairo do lead to an immense

time loss, what is reflected by high inefficiency. In fact the forced low gasoline price

erases every incentive to include the question of energy efficiency in decision-making

processes.

Solving this undesirable situation by constraining the aftermaths of at least a

decade of wrong policy making, should be one of the main agenda points in future policy

making - one might assume. However the political reaction on the self-inflicted

grievances is utterly non-existent.

The fact that Egypt is currently in an exceptional situation and major policy

changes like the reduction of gasoline subvention normally require a well working

government, can be accepted as a short term excuse. Nevertheless there have to be

changes in the long term, otherwise the burden of the subventions will become

impossible to handle for the Egyptian state in the nearer future. Unfortunately the

decrease of subsidies normally goes along with an intensive resistance of the population.

People got used to the lower price levels and the sudden increase often causes harsh

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criticism on the responsible. Therefore the possibility that future Egyptian governments

dare to weaken their already critical position, by offending the public with increased

prices, is quite unlikely.

One of the main reasons for the negative perception of gasoline price increasing

policies is that they seem to increase social injustice. The standard impression is that

those policies affect the poorer parts of the population more than the richer parts. On the

other hand is the benefit out of equally shared subsidies, like today’s gasoline subsidies in

Egypt, which is much higher for those with higher capital, since the lower revenue groups

rely more on the usage of the public transport system and the higher revenue groups rely

on the usage of private cars. Especially in Egypt the usage of cars with high gasoline

consumption and the ownership of more than one car per family, as well as the complete

avoidance of the public transport system is quite popular among the high revenue groups.

Then again it is undeniable that higher gasoline price will cause an increase in

transportation costs, which again will require a higher percentage of smaller monthly

salaries. This is the point, where the government should increase investment according to

the decrease in subsidies. Possible measures could be the development of the public

transport system (construction of additional metro lines, increasing of the amount of

buses, subsidies on train tickets) or a direct payment to lower income groups. The fact

that seems to be disregarded or doubted is that through the credit by reducing the

government expenditures in the subsidies, new financial resources will be available.

Those resources can and should be used to balance out appearing disadvantages for the

population.

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Considering these we can conclude, that the decrease in subvention would

decrease environment pollution, relax the traffic problems, increase the revenue of the

state, have a positive economical outcome and balance an area of predominant social

injustice. Still this change in policymaking is not to be found on any political agenda in

Egypt. The only explanation is the potential risk of reducing the chance to be elected by

displeasing the voting public. Unfortunately the expected negative perception of a

gasoline price increase seems to be the reason why politicians hesitate to make this policy

effectual.

Nevertheless it is basically unavoidable to decrease the subsidies at one point.

Since this decrease could be a benefit for every part of the society the main objective

should be the sensitizing of the society towards the decrease and its benefits. To solve the

misery of policymakers, one has to elucidate the people and point out the need as well as

the positive outcome of the policy.

Therefore the elasticity of the domestic demand and the general response to

education measures is an essential area to be researched. Results from this research could

provide the policy maker with information about the need of further sensitization and the

consequences of expedient price changes. Another part of the research requires the

elaboration of the opinion change in society, according to the level of conveyed

knowledge of the actual meaning and impacts of a subsidy decrease. Therefore the

surveys should be composed out of two independent parts. The first part should question

the opinions, feelings and reactions towards higher gasoline prices, if they would be put

into power without any further explanation. The second part should include a short

introduction, explaining the negative and positive impacts of a decrease in gasoline

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subvention and then demand the participants to answer the same question from the first

part again. Given this data it should be possible to conclude the current perception of a

decrease in subsidies and the influence of information providing measures on the public

opinion making process. In the end one might be able to conclude, if it is possible to

establish policy changes with the support of the society. In case of a complete denial of

the subsidy decrease, one should at least be able to identify the most critical areas and

thereby adjust the new policy.

Therefore main objective of the research is answering the question, whether

educational advertising for a subsidy decrease would lead to a higher acceptance among

the Egyptian people towards such policy making.

The research was done with a survey (attached at the end), which is subdivided in

2 parts. The first part is giving a general introduction to subventions in Egypt followed by

four questions examining the opinions towards current gasoline prices and reactions

towards potential changes. The second part introduces a short summary of the positive

side effects resulting out of a decrease in subsidies, which had been discussed in the

beginning of this paper. After this example of educational advertising has been presented

to the interviewees, they had to answer the four questions from part 1 of the survey again.

The research was carried out at the Campus of the American University in Cairo

(AUC) and the district Dar El Salam (DEL) in Cairo. Those areas were chosen to make

the research as representative as possible. Interviewees at AUC most likely received

better education and should be adjusted to the high-income part of the Egyptian

population to be contrasted by the interviewees in DEL, which more or less resemble the

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medium- and low-income groups in Egypt. Overall 113 surveys have been carried out to

facilitate the analysis 12 surveys from AUC and 1 survey from DEL have been randomly

excluded, therefore the data analyzed is composed of 50 surveys from AUC and 50

surveys from DEL. The different sets of surveys from the AUC and DEL will be

analyzed independently from each other and then compared.

In the analysis the answers without the educational advertisement will be referred

to as set 1 and the questions from the second part of the survey (interviewee already read

the information part) as set 2. The questions will be analyzed one after another in the

numerical order, the analysis will be composed of the evaluation of set 1-DEL, set 1-

AUC, set 2-DEL, set 2-AUC and than followed by a general interpretation of the

answers.

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Question 1: In your opinion the current gasoline prices in Egypt are

1) Set 1-DEL 2) Set 1-AUC


The comparison of the charts 1 and 2 shows that the educational and financial

background is not related to the opinion towards gasoline prices. Regarding the fact that

0

10

20

30

40

too high good as they are

too low 0

10

20

30

40


too low

0

10

20

30

40

50


too low 0

10

20

30

40


too low

13

the Egyptian gasoline prices with 0.65$ per gallon are among the lowest around the

whole world, the high satisfaction with the price is not really surprising. The more

interesting point is that in both groups around 20% of the interviewees answered with

“too high”. As discussed earlier is it really rare that the consumers support higher

gasoline prices, in this case almost 20% admitted that the prices are too low. This shows

that parts of the population are already aware of the difficulty going along with too high

gasoline prices. Assuming that through the information part of the survey the percentage

of people being aware increased from the original 20% to 100%, we observe that the

acceptance increased up to around 80%. Another noticeable point is that more

interviewees from 3) Set 2-AUC, responded with “good as they are” compared to the

interviewees from 4) Set 2-DEL, who were more likely to answer with “too high”. This

might show a weakness in the survey, which will be addressed later.

Question 2: If the government would announce an increase in gasoline prices. You reaction towards that policy change would be


I support it strongly

I support it

I oppose it

I oppose it strongly


I support it

I oppose it


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Compared to question 1 we may observe a disagreement between the answering

manner of the AUC sets and the DEL sets, even though the question 1 and question 2

don’t differ too much in content. In question 2 the terms “government” and “policy” were

chosen on purpose with the ulterior motive of connecting the actual process and the

executing responsible in the mind of the interviewees. Evaluating the answers keeping

this in mind, one observes a more moderate and positive perception of the question in 6)

Set 1-AUC and 8) Set 2-AUC contrasted by a rather critical and negative perception in 5)

Set 1-DEL and 7) Set 2-DEL. Another distinctive feature is that, even though the

information part was already given, the number of interviewees answering with “I oppose

it strongly” remained comparatively high in 7) Set 2-DEL and 8) Set 2-AUC. This again


I support it

I oppose it



I support it

I oppose it


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might show a weakness in the survey, but regarding this distinctive aberration one might

assume, that the inclusion of the government drives people to be more critical and more

difficult to convince. If this is the case, it is a really important observation, since the

government will be the executive responsible for the decrease in subsidies and this will

be executed by a policy. Therefore can this question be seen a direct reference to the

procedure of subsidies decreases in reality.

Question 3: Which income groups would be more affected by a decrease in subsidies?



0

20

40

Higher income groups

All equally affected

Lower income groups

0 5 10 15 20 25



Lower income groups

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The comparison between 9) Set 1-DEL and 10) Set 1-AUC surprisingly indicates

the assumption, that the probands from both groups agree in expecting the lower income

groups to be more affected. This conforms the statement made earlier in this paper, that

most of the people have the misconception of higher gasoline prices penalizing the poorer

more than the richer parts of the society.

Another general conclusion from this data is that after the education advertising

part people tend to shift their opinion towards “Higher income groups”. So the

information provided caused a revise of opinions by approximately 50% of the probands.

Still a rather high ratio expects a stronger effect on low-income groups in 11) Set 2-DEL

and 12) Set 2-AUC.

Question 4: What effect do you think a decrease in subsidies would have on the

general economic performance of the Egyptian economy?


0

10

20

30



Lower income groups

0

10

20

30



Lower income groups

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The responses in the first sets 13) Set 1-DEL and Set 1-AUC are completely

oppositional. This means, that the interviewees in DEL and the interviewees at AUC

must have opposing concepts of the influence of gasoline prices on the economy. The

differentiation between the AUC set and DEL set was used to include high- or low

educational background in the considerations. Applying this on these two sets

particularly, one can observe the crucial misunderstandings of economic process among

the less educated DEL interviewees. This especially shows how important information

sharing with every part of the society is to ensure the right understanding of policies. If

one compares 15) Set 2-DEL and 16) Set 2-AUC with 13) Set 1-DEL and 14) Set 1-

AUC one can observe the impact of providing information.

0

10

20

30

Positive No Effect Negative 0

5

10

15

20

Positive No Effect Negative

0

10

20

30

Positive No Effect

Negative 0

10

20

30

40

Positive No Effect Negative

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Evaluating the research in the whole one notices a positive relation between the

providing of information and interviewees choosing the answer supporting the imposition

of decreasing subsidies in every question.

In question 1,2 and 3 one discovers, that even though the AUC set and the DEL

set were answered by people with completely contradicting social backgrounds, the

answers allocation was not to different in Set 1-DEL and Set 1-AUC. The answer

allocation aligned even more after the educational advertisement was provided by the

survey.

The only exception for this behavior is question 4. Question 4 is related to

judgment of economic processes and the economic influence of subsidy on markets,

which was explained in this paper before. These conceptions are normally taught at a

university level and can definitely not be assigned to general knowledge. Again one

observes the aligning of answer allocation between 15) Set 2-DEL and 16) Set 2-AUC

compared to the answer sets before the educational advertising was provided. This

demonstrates that, if the knowledge towards the topic is on an equal level (AUC

interviewees and the DEL interviewees could refer to the information given in the

survey), both groups will answer in the same manner.

Another interesting fact can be concluded out of 3) Set 2-DEL and 4) Set 2-AUC

compared to 7) Set 2-DEL and 8) Set 2-AUC. Question 1 addressed the issue of high

gasoline prices in a more theoretical form, while question 2 referred to the actual

execution of a decrease in subventions. Given this, one is able to recognize that people

are more likely to accept higher gasoline prices when the information is provided without

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relating it to government and policies. Two possible conclusions can be developed out of

this: First – Egyptians get more radical when the government is included in topics the

Egyptian people have to judge about. Second - People accept that higher gasoline prices

would be useful, but as soon this theory will be executed as a policy, so to say

transformed from theory to reality, their acceptance decreases.

While discussing question 1 I mentioned that there might be some weaknesses in

the survey. One major problem, which can be seen in all the set-2 charts, are the people,

who felt tricked by the information supply and responded with defiance. Due to the fact

that the survey is in paper form and the necessity of minimizing the expenditure of time

for the interviewees, the information part was created rather short and relies on the

absolute acceptance of the interviewee. Answering question followed by a list of

additional information, which might contradict the given answers and then again

answering the same question, but feeling obliged to answer different this time, might

have led to a counter reaction.

A further issue is the group of people with already existing background

knowledge about the topic. Parts of the AUC data were 8 surveys, showing the same

answers in all 4 questions in set 1 and set 2. These answers the answers enforced to be

given by the information part. That the 8 probands chose these answers in the first set

indicates, that the information given afterwards in the education advertisement were

already known to them, because of an economic studies background.

Even though problems occurred and might had influences on the data, the overall

result is clear enough to address the main objective of the research. All the data indicates

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a positive relation between information providing and the acceptance towards a subsidies

decrease. Meaning that after the educational advertising was received people are more

likely to accept or even support policies that increase the gasoline by decreasing

subventions.

Egypt is currently in the problematic situation of having to high subsidies on the

one hand and a population not accepting a decrease of subsidies on the other hand.

According to this research, the Egyptian government could solve this dilemma by

communicating the economic reasons to the population and providing them with

information about the positive side effects of higher gasoline prices. Doing so, would

lead to a higher acceptance of those policies and sensibilize the population for the

decrease in subsidies.

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Survey used:

The gasoline subsidies became a major problem for the Egyptian state in the recent year. The cost of gasoline subsidies reached 10 percent of Egypt’s GDP and the gasoline consumption of the Egyptian population exceeded the Egypt’s gasoline production in 2007.

This survey is to measure the opinions towards increased gasoline prices and the effect of education provisions to increase public awareness of the positive effects

-‐ for the sake of optimal information gathering the interviewee should work through the paper in the following order:

o Answering questions of part 1 o Reading information part o Answering questions of part 2

Thank you!

Question Part 1


too high☐ perfectly fine☐ too low☐

Question 2: If the government would announce an increase in gasoline prices.

You reaction towards that policy change would be:

I support it strongly ☐ I support it☐

I oppose it☐ I oppose it strongly ☐

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Question 3: Which income group would be more affected by a decrease in subsidies?

Higher income groups☐ lower income groups☐ equally affected☐

Question 4: What effect do you think a decrease in subsidies would have on the general economic performance of the Egyptian economy?

Positive ☐ Negative ☐ No Effect ☐

Part 2

This part is supposed to give you information about the assumed effects of a decrease in subsidies and the resulting increase in gasoline prices:

Additional financial recourses for the government

Those resources can be reinvested

-In better infrastructure

- A decrease in bus and train prices

-Direct payments to lower income groups to balance out the increased transportation costs

Gasoline as a price factor to consider will decrease traffic

Reduction of traffic accidents (old high gasoline consuming cars will be less attractive to use)

Higher energy efficiency

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Question Part 2


too high☐ perfectly fine☐ too low☐

Question 2: If the government would announce an increase in gasoline prices.

You reaction towards that policy change would be:

I support it strongly ☐ I support it☐

I oppose it☐ I oppose it strongly ☐

Question 3: Which income group would be more affected by a decrease in subsidies?

Higher income groups☐ lower income groups☐ equally affected☐

Question 4: What effect do you think a decrease in subsidies would have on the general economic performance of the Egyptian economy?

Positive ☐ Negative ☐ No Effect ☐

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Works cited

Business Monitor international. “Egypt Business Forecast Report – Q2 2011 -Life After Mubarak: Now Comes The Hard Part” (17.2.2011). Page 1 and 43

“Egypt's fuel subsidies seen up to $13 bln-‐oil min”. af.reuters.com. Thomson Reuters, 22.6.2011. Internet. 27.10.2011

HSBC Global Research. “Middle East Economics Quarterly Q2 2011” (29.5.2011). Page 26

Murray, Dan. www.thedatarevolution.com. World Health Organization, 9.2.2011. Internet. 25.10.2011

“Overview”. www.egyptoil-gas.com. Energy Information Services. Internet. 28.10.2011

The Global Subsidies Initiative. “Untold billions: Fossil-Fuel subsidies, their impacts and the path to reform -The Effects of Fossil-Fuel Subsidy Reform: A review of modelling and empirical studies”. (March 2010). Page 29

The World Bank. “Egypt - toward a more effective social policy: subsidies and social safety net” (16.12.2005). Page 43-‐46

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Response to the research paper “Should Inter-faith Marriages be Avoided?” by Joselyn

Doss

What a wonderful reading experience this was! Before I start analyzing what

made this such research paper so enjoyable for me, let me thank you for sharing this story

and at the same time research with me!

You did a wonderful job merging your own story with your research in the paper!

The story part creates such a vivid picture of the issue, which is contrasted by the more

theoretical issue concerning Inter-faith Marriages. The reader is not only given the legal

and religious background, but can dive into the sentimental value, which in the end shows

him the main issue of this topic.

By including the different definitions of love based on your own experiences as

well as the experiences of others, you appeal to the reader in a really impressive and

beautiful manner.

In the beginning I was a bit irritated by the fact, that actual data provided by

questionnaires or surveys was not included in the paper. When I thought about it a bit

longer, I figured that in fact the inclusion of charts and the analyses of number would be

completely counterproductive for the ambience this paper is communicating.

The structure of introducing the reader with you personal story, followed by the

background in religious and legal terms, reaching the bottom of the discussion by

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describing the actual essential points of the issue and then sharing of similar stories,

slowly leads the reader through the topic and informs him well and creates an interesting

ambiguous picture in the reader’s mind.

What impresses me the most is that even though your point of view and feelings

towards the topic are not unbiased at all, you still managed to always show both sides of

the medal. It is really rare that one reads a paper with a bias writer, but the elaboration in

the paper remains completely unbiased.

Since my opinion towards this topic is already completely covered in the paper I

would only summarize it with one sentence. Love is something magical; if you found that

magic do not give up on it for any reasons you might regret it for the rest of your life!

I from the bottom of my heart wish you two, that you will overcome the barriers

if it is with or without the blessing of your families!

Be proud of this research paper

Best Max

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14.9.2011

Strike at AUC – a personal statement

Sitting in the library in a country, which proudly considers itself as a newborn

democracy, I write this paper, while hearing protest chants going on for the last hour.

Chants sang by students refusing to pay the increased tuition and workers demanding for

an increase in their salary. To reduce that to simple economic terms from the American

University’s point of view: On the hand they are demanded to decrease the major part of

the approximated income and on the other hand to increase the costs in the human

resources sector. To analyze the appropriate reaction by the university’s administration,

one has to analyze both workers and student demands separately, since they are

contradicting each other from the general economic magnitude.

On the third of July the administration sent an e-mail to every enrolled student, which

announced that for the next semester the tuition fee will be increased by nine percent. The

official reason for this is the decreased revenue from international students, based on their

high drop out rate in the course of the Egyptian revolution. This caused a negative

balance in the universities financial planning, now to be compensated through an increase

in tuition this semester. Concerning this part of the strike the questions, which have to be

imposed, should be:

-Do there exist other fields, where saving cost might result in balanced finances and what

would be the impacts on university life?

28

-Since the loss is non-recurring, why should there be a general and constant increase in

tuition, whether a one-time payment might be more appropriated?

-To which degree does the university support students and their families, when they are

no longer able to pay the tuition?

The other major demands of the protesters do come from the AUC workers. Contrary to

the students they don’t want to pay less to AUC they demand higher salaries. The issue of

an adequate salary for the workers has already been discussed several times in the last

year before and after the revolution. Based on the experiences in the revolution, the

mentality of expressing and accomplishing demands through demonstrations is a much

more wide spread phenomena in the Egyptian society. Questions to be answered about

the worker’s demands are:

-Are they paid properly, concerning the minimal wage of 1200 L.E. and/or the average

wage in Egypt?

-Would an increase in wages result in a decrease in staff?

Is the difference in salary levels between the different levels of the staff justifiable?

-Shouldn’t the American University be in a role model position for employee treatment?

29

Nevertheless should one not to forget that, assuming the university executes a decent

financial policy, two independent groups demand the university to save and spent an

immense amount of money.

In my opinion the most logical way to solve this problem is to establish a committee

composed out of representatives delegated by the students, workers, administration and

independent ones. This committee should have full access to the financial data of the

AUC and figure out the imposed questions as well as a plan based on the findings.

20.9.2011

30

A conclusion of the AUC strike and an analysis of the final outcome

I wrote the assignment “Strike at AUC – a personal statement” 6 days ago and I included

various suggestions to align the demands of the students and workers with the interest of

the AUC admission. Today AUC President Lisa Anderson addressed the AUC

community with the presentation of agreements elaborated in meetings with parts of the

administration, the syndicate, students and faculty members. The most important points

addressed in those agreements are:

-The university will enhance the budget transparency and will open detailed versions to

the students

-Students will be included in budget decisions

-Increase in worker salaries and reduced working hours

-Establishment of a permanent Labor Rights Oversight Committee

-Attendance taken during classes in the past weeks was to be cancelled

Referring to “Strike at AUC – A personal statement” : “In my opinion the most logical

way to solve this problem is to establish a committee composed out of representatives

delegated by the students, workers, administration and independent ones. This committee

should have full access to the financial data of the AUC and figure out the imposed

questions as well as a plan based on the findings.”

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This was my final conclusion and apparently were exactly those the measures to address

the problems and come up with an agreement.

Nevertheless one should not forget that there is a difference between agreeing on actions

and the final execution. Only the upcoming weeks, months and semesters can show if the

admission and Lisa Anderson are as good as their word. What stays is a demonstration of

power shown by students and workers and a step away from pure university policy

accepting towards independence.

To say it in Jonathan Mayhew’s and Boston Tea Party terms:

“No tuition without representation!”

sources:

http://academic.aucegypt.edu/independent/?p=2868 http://www.aucegypt.edu/newsatauc/Pages/story.aspx?eid=724

32

Hopes and Fears

Hopes and fears are probably the only feelings, which connects one’s current state of

mind with your own future. In fact they are based on future outcomes of current and

possible future happenings. Since the outcomes in the future can only be regarded as part

of a set of possible outcomes they can never be a 100 percent determined. It is really rare

that the future has a direct impact on one’s state of mind in the present, even though the

concerned future outcome might never become real but remains being only a possibility.

In short hopes and fears assume positive or negative outcomes, therefore cause us to fell

accordingly in the present and finally might thereby change the future

Time traveling!

Portfolio

Documents

future research writing

research writing fall

term research writing

various research methods

writing experience

journalistic writing

auc strike

joselyn dosss paper