Caravan, Vol. 71, No. 7

              Lack of Student Support Closes SU Cafeteria
Family Night Big Hit with Audience
   By Amal Roushdy
   According to parents, students, staff and administrators, this year's Family Night held on Saturday, OcL 20, was a great success.
   "The Parents Association had a tremendous role in making the event look great," said Nagua Shoeb, planning and development officer. It was a good opportunity for all the parents to mingle and meet with Mohamed Allam, AUC vice president for student affairs, in a less formal occasion, she said.
  Shoeb said the event had served its purpose 100 percent.
   "It is the first time for Student Union to spread ticket stands and
fashion posters on campus," said Dalia Abdel Hadi, Egyptology representative. Abdel Hadi said the number of students who bought dinner    tickets    was really
unexpected.
   Aziz   Khafaga,   director of
student cultural activities, has been organizing this show for more than a month. "In this show, I meant to choose new students for the AUC Choral, to acquire the exact feeling on stage, although they're playing a small role this time," Khafaga said. She expressed her satisfaction with the two solo, AUC graduate singers. One. of the singers, Sherif
                                                                                                                                                                                                              Cont. page 5
    By Noha Ibrahim
    and Dina Osman
    Khalcd Bassiouny resigned from his post as the head of the SU cafeteria due to the lack of cooperation with the Student Union, last Monday, leading to the closing of the cafeteria.
    "SU staff members are too busy to work in the cafeteria, I can't cope with only four or five volunteer students working in the cafeteria the whole day and missing classes," Bassiouny said.
    Bassiouny refused to give further details on the issue saying,"it is confidential."
    Tarek El Badawi, Economics representative and previous chairman of the Academic Committee said, "Bassiouny is involved in a lot of activities that require a lot of work, so he wanted to lighten up the load."
    When asked why Khaled "gave up his baby" since he was the one who set up the cafeteria, El Badawi refused to comment.
    Karim Fayed, head of assistants and appointed member of the Activities Committee said, "I think there might have been problems inside the SU that could have led to his (Bassiouny) resignation."
    Mohamed Younis, chairman of the Activities Committee said, "Maybe Khaled is scared that the closing down of the cafeteria would make him look bad."
    The SU is now in the process of reorganizing the cafeteria.
    Mahdi El Dajani, SU president, said, "It (the cafeteria) needed reorganization in the sense that new efficient methods have to be drawn out."
    El Dajani added, "The cafeteria needs more than one person to
handle it and requires from us a reconsideration of agreements made with the restaurant; the number of hours each volunteer and member will stand in the cafeteria; opening hours of the cafeteria; and the reconstruction of the objectives of the cafeteria which fundamentally is to compete with the university cafeteria."
   El Dajani also said, "Attendance was not the major problem" that led to the closing of the cafeteria.
   However, Ayman Salah, SU vice-president, said, "The main problem was that the schedule of the members who were supposed to work in the cafeteria clashed."
   Salah added ,"The cafeteria isn't a lesser project, it's one ,of the best projects the SU does. In order to do a project for the students either we
   Hamedi to Succeed El Badawi As Academic Committee Head
   By Dina Osman
do it right or we don't do it at all."
Fayed said,"Therc is no support from students. We need enthusiastic students to help us and we can't get professional help because it is against university regulations. It is a cafeteria by the students, for the students."
Younis .said ,"We only got a feeling of the cafeteria problem last week.
A lot of the problems this semester were due to the clashes in the schedules of the members of the cafeteria, so they couldn't stand and work. Assistants were asked by Mahdi to help in the cafeteria but they didn't. The assistants and
Cont. page 5
    Tarek El Badawi, Economics representative, resigned from his position as chairman of the Academic Committee, for personal
   "Being chairman of the
Academic Committee is taking too much of my time; I ended up neglecting   my duty as         an
Economics    representative. I
wanted to free myself to solve my department's problems," El Badawi said.
   Student Union President Mahdi El Dajani said, "Tarek will remain in the SU as an Economic representative and a member of the Academic Committee."
   "The SU has lost a sincere and serious chairperson and we hope that his unexpected circumstances would come to an end," he added.
   Zoheir Hamedi, Political Science representative, was elected to fill the vacant chairman's post as of last Monday.
   Other nominees were, Samir Cont. page 5
Ex-Planning Minister Says Egypt Needs to Produce and Export More to Improve Economy
   By Randa Aboulmagd
   Developing a manufacture and export base in Egypt would raise the money needed for expansion into the desert to relieve overcrowded conditions along the Nile, Ibrahim Helmy Abdel Rahman, former minister of
planning, said at a seminar held last Tuesday. ,
   The theme for this year's seminars, organized by the Desert Development Center, is "Desert Environment and Development of Rural and Urban Communities." Abdel Rahman concentrated his discussion on the 3 percent of
densely populated land in Egypt.
   He said Egypt is facing other environmental problems which include expansion of desert land and changing weather conditions, which in turn may result in a sea level rise between 2 and 3 meters.
   Another problem is Egypt's energy resources. So far, they're
  INSIDE
sufficient for consumption and even export. However, with the rapid population increase, the energy supply will soon not be sufficient for internal consumption, he added.
   Abdel Rahman wondered how the estimated 1(X) million Egyptians in the year 2000 would be able to live on the same piece of
land. "The solution is to prtxluce and export," he said. "We need money to facilitate the pumping out of underground water in order to develop the desert," he added.
                                                                                                                                                                             On the other hand, American researchers advised the Egyptian
                                                                                                                                                                                              Cont. page 5