The campaign called “Against the Regulations and Laws of King Abdulaziz University and Students Affairs” has been launched on online social networking sites.
“We don’t have umbrellas or anything to protect us from the sun, so most students cover their heads with their scarves while walking under the sun from a campus to another,” said Rawan Al-Thomali, a 20-year-old KAU student who founded the campaign.
She also pointed out that some low-income students prefer to wear the abayas which help them hide that they are from a low-income class.
KAU also prohibits women from wearing pants on the campus. Al-Thomali says that this regulation is particularly impractical in some course, such as in medical science, where it is more practical to wear pants and lab coats.
Al-Thomali and supporters of the campaign would also like to see campus administrators loosen up the outright ban on cell phones and laptops that have cameras built into them.
Al-Thomali admits that there are some ill-mannered students who sometimes walk around with their camera phones taking photos of students or instructors on campus. However, with almost all phones having cameras, she believes it is impractical to ban them. Security officers, she added, should instead confiscate cell phone of the people who take photos.
“All these rules and decisions have more of a negative impact on students than positive,” she said. A KAU instructor who requested anonymity said that she is against students having cameras on campus because many of the students have no manners and they take advantage of other students’ politeness.
“I have seen some students who are troublemakers and want to insult instructors and students alike,” she said. “Nowadays girls are more uncouth, unlike in past generations, so we have to have strict rules to make sure they will not abuse the system.”
The students behind the campaign have also complained about inadequate facilities, like old dirty chairs and faulty air conditioning systems in classrooms.
“We want equality across all departments,” said Al-Thomali. “We need some change and we need them to understand and interact with students more effectively.”
She suggested that university administrators allow a student council and to teach security staff how to be more polite.
The students recently met with the KAU Dean Hanaa Al-Nuaim, who they said was very cooperative.
“Dr. Hanaa listened to our complaints carefully and she promised that she would look into the matter,” said Al-Thomali.
Al-Nuaim told a local daily that she cannot comment on the matter since the issues brought up by the students are still being discussed.
