Details of the cancellation of the preacher Al-Omari’s lecture.. Benamr: The university is a space for intellectual discussion

The cancellation of a lecture that was to be delivered by the preacher Yassin Al-Omari on the topic “Values ​​in the Teaching Profession”, for the benefit of the students of the Higher School of Education and Training in Agadir, sparked controversy on social media because of what some described as an attempt to exclude some personalities from entering the university.

A source from the aforementioned school told Hespress that the club organizing the event obtained the approval of the institution’s management, after the application was submitted in order to receive Al-Omari and obtain a license to use the runway for this purpose, but he was surprised later that his request was withdrawn “due to the lack of approval of the local authorities,” according to the same source. .

In response to a question by Hespress about the reason for the request to the local authorities after it was approved by the institution’s management, the spokesperson said: “The club preferred to notify the authorities in addition to the institution’s management, in anticipation of any gathering in front of the institution due to the desire of citizens from outside the institution to attend the lecture.”

For his part, Yassin Al-Omari, in a statement to Hespress, was satisfied with saying that he had received a call while he was on his way to school stating that the activity had been canceled, so he returned it. And refrain from going into the details of the topic.

This event raises the discussion again about the role of university space in intellectual framing, ideological conflict, and participation in the defense of democracy, and raises the question about whether the university is a field for academic scientific formation only, or also a field for refining students’ personalities through intellectual and political discussion circles.

Abd al-Rahman Benamr, a politician and human rights activist, said that the university is not a space monopolized by certain scientific disciplines, but rather a field for defending democracy, and a space for the struggle of ideas of all kinds.

Commenting on preventing some personalities from entering some university institutions in order to frame seminars or participate in some intellectual activities, Benamr said, “This matter is unacceptable,” noting that “any person has the right to enter university space as long as it does not affect moral security.”

He added that “the university is not dependent on one aspect of the intellectual aspects, but rather it is also a space for the convergence of ideas through seminars, intellectual activities, and the exchange of ideas between students and between students and professors.”

Benamr continued, “The political struggle within the university is available in the field of exposing corruption and its methods and combating reactionary and misleading thought, and the student can be affiliated with a number of intellectual and political currents in society that extend to the university. Consequently, the latter is a space for education in certain fields, as well as for the exchange and struggle of ideas.