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Perzigian was a witness to history in Egypt By Barry McNamara Anthony Perzigian’s Plan B for the 2010-11 “Protestant work ethic” in a relatively quiet workplace. His plan for that academic year was moving along just fine day, and for his stay in Egypt, soon began to unravel. “I got a call from my colleague. When I told him I was headed into until it was sidetracked by a revolution. Perzigian, a 1966 Monmouth College graduate work, he exclaimed, ‘You have to go to indoors!’ My driver didn’t speak and a member of MC’s board of trustees, stepped English, so I handed the phone to him, and the next thing I knew, we had down last September after 14 years as provost at made a U-turn and were headed back to the compound.” With the situation getting out of hand, the Egyptian government the University of Cincinnati. His initial plans began offering evacuation flights on Jan. 31. were to “take a leave for a spell.” “We had packed for several months, and because we didn’t perceive However, a colleague at the University of Cincinnati told him about an exciting opportunity in Egypt, working with the colleague as a co-adviser any immediate harm, we decided against the evacuation flights,” said to the chairman of the board of trustees at Future University in Cairo, a Perzigian. “A couple thousand people did take them.” “Immediate harm” became a little more real on Feb. 2, when President private college that was founded in 2006. Perzigian’s new goal for the year was to help to “raise the bar” of Egyp- Mubarak “unleashed the thugs,” said Perzigian. “We decided we should come home—briefly.” tian higher education. The Perzigians were back in the U.S. for about one month, returning to “The government universities are suffering—they’re not keeping up,” Cairo in early March and staying until early he explained. “There’s more competition in the July. higher education market. My colleague and I “Situated in essentially the very ‘capital’ of were there to incorporate American higher “The immediate euphoria of the Middle East, I have been very fortunate to education practices, get programs accredited toppling the dictator has watch and experience firsthand the Arab and get it as close to the American model as spring,” Perzigian said. “The immediate possible. We felt nothing but welcomed there, worn off, and the country euphoria of toppling the dictator has worn off, and we were getting a lot done.” must now deal with the and the country must now deal with the That is, until January, when millions of proresults of 60 years of political repression, cortesters took to the streets, demanding the results of 60 years of ruption and cronyism.” overthrow of the regime of Egyptian president Perzigian said those years of repression Hosni Mubarak. political repression, have caused agricultural, commercial and “We couldn’t have been in a place with more corruption and cronyism.” industrial stagnation that, when coupled with of an historical context playing out,” Perzigian high rates of illiteracy, poverty and unemploysaid. ment, add up to major economic woes only When he was first interviewed following his return to the U.S. in February, Perzigian discussed the Egyptian senti- exacerbated by the slump in tourism. “Observing a nation at this very embryonic stage of democracy is fasment toward Americans. “This is not 1979 in Iran,” he said. “It’s nothing like that at all. I never cinating,” he said. “In fact, the whole Middle East is in this embryonic had the impression that I was looked at as the Great Satan. The whole stage because most post-colonial Arab states have been led by repressive purpose I was there was to copy what America is doing. There were no authoritarian regimes many of which have been, ironically, supported by U.S. tax dollars. Political parties—literally several dozen—have been American flags burning.” Perzigian and wife, Donna, had arrived in Egypt in mid-December. For created.” Perzigian said the parties basically fall into two camps: liberal/secular the first two weeks, they were “escorted from one end of the country to the other—we saw everything.” Highlights included the “awesome” Pyra- and Islamist. “The latter is best exemplified by the Muslim Brotherhood. They are mids of Giza and the “breathtaking” Nile River, and Perzigian was also well organized, and many fear that they will win many seats in the Parliaamazed by Cairo itself. “The energy and the excitement and the pulse of Cairo—it was like ment. As a consequence, the liberal/secular parties want the new constinothing I’d ever experienced,” he said. “It’s the loudest, most congested, tution drafted before the elections. They fear that the Islamists voted in will write a constitution making Egypt a theocratic state.” most exhilarating place I’ve seen.” Although America and Americans are still admired, Perzigian reported The congestion comes from Cairo’s staggering population of 22 million, making it one of the most densely populated places on the planet. that polling numbers “are not good. Egyptians feel that we are not even handed on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, that we were too slow in aban“I would never dare to drive there,” he said. “It’s organized chaos.” On Jan. 25, Perzigian was in his usual non-driving mode, having been doning Mubarak, and that we for far too long funded his corrupt, represpicked up by a university driver to go to his office. He was hoping to take sive regime.” A regime that is now history, and Anthony Perzigian saw it fall. advantage of a national holiday in Egypt—Police Day—and apply his
monmouth | summer 2011
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