Fire Drill Breaches women’s privacy

BY AHMED MOHSEN

Workers from the university’s Environmental Health and Safety office (EHS) were found taking pictures of girls in the women’s dormitories during a fire drill, sparking anger among the dorms residents.

Residents saw this as a clear breach to their privacy. Women, especially, were furious because some were not wearing proper clothing and some veiled students left their rooms without their headscarves.

“When the alarm went off, I was at a friend’s room and decided to get back to my room to change before going out, but I found an EHS officer [in my unit’s floor] and he was taking pictures of me,” said Viola Khalil, accounting junior.

The on-campus Resident Director (RD), Sachi Virahsawmy, explained that upon the start of a drill that took place on Nov.13, EHS workers should have entered the common areas of the dormitories to supervise and direct the evacuation process.

The resident advisors (RA) act as floor wardens and evacuate all units. They report to Virahsawmy, the building warden.

He added that the EHS office did not mention the fact that they were going to take pictures during the planning meetings prior the drill.

Rham Abdel Hamid, EHS director, said that the entrance of some of the EHS workers inside some of the units was to replace some absent RAs in evacuating units.

She added that the pictures shot are used for documentation purposes.

Seven phones and a camera were confiscated from the EHS workers by the office of residential life and all pictures taken during the drill were removed based on the request of Abdel Hamid as soon as she got updated with the situation.

Abdel Hamid added that it is true that there was no mention of pictures in the planning meetings with the residential life office.

However, it was a routine procedure and that she was concerned more with assessing the dorms for the drill.

She said that in her opinion, the women’s irritation was a “cultural issue,” and that if the situation had happened anywhere else, residents wouldn’t react the way the ladies did.

A drill conducted later in the Maadi faculty hostel occurred without taking pictures due to Abdel Hamid’s decision that there will no longer be pictures taken in any residential buildings.

An email sent by The Office of Residential Life to the residents stated that they would request the presence of women security for future drills.

“We would like to apologize for the incidents that took place,” stated the e-mail, adding, “A detailed report along with your concerns have been sent to the administration and we will keep you posted with any further developments.”