UA-R-GC-1914-01-01-1960-11-18_Page-027

z...U~.<-M.-"~I"'UJ The American University at Cairo \13 SIiARlA KASR EL AINl CAIRO. roYPT Office of the Presidcl1t 6 October 1960 Members of the Executive Conunittee Dear friends : l llJi preparing this l etter at the last minute before going to Beirut for a conference with Colonel Eddy. After talking with him this afternoon I 'll pen a postscript to this letter tonight , add any material s that may grow out of our judgments, and m il this to the New York office tomorrow, with instructions for immediate duplication and mailing to you. Boresome as some of this r.aterial may be (as it was aaid in the last DEetine, "we 'ro always talking about t he Education La:"II) the fact is Uat the education law has been our major problem at least since 1956, and ae it now stands , will destroy the University unlese we can get President Nasser to exempt the University by setting asi de the law and t he Ministerial Orders . There is hardly a chance that he will do this , but none-the-leas , we shall do everything possible to secure such action on hie part. A careful reading of all the attached documents (and , I woul d suggest , in the order in which they are placed) will be self-pxpl anatory. I would call the especial attention of Douglas and Ed Dirks to the reference to the advisabil ity of postponement of the visit of Stevenson 's comrndttee , an~because of the aame circumstances , the probabl e advisability of working out another time for Ed 's visit. Both these, however, depend upon what wil~ppen in the mean ti me . As you know , I cabled last week for an emergency meeting of the Executive Comndttee, and, on the day after, sent another cable poetponing it. As you may have guessed, the reason for the change was the unexpected early return of President Nasser from America. Our committee had felt (and Ambassador Rheinhardt agreed) that it woul d be excellent to see Nasser in America, if it could be accoaplished, with Douglas and Raymond Hare joining in the conference. But now that he is back in Cairo, and, as the most important thing is to get to him quickl y, the cor:uni ttee feels I shoul d stay here and make any effort to do so . The Ambassador agrees . l Ive already set wheels in motion , but it may be impossibl e to see him, soon at least, as he rust be compl etely overv/helmed wi th things to do after having been away