A UC Davis faculty member in Egypt for a family emergency said she required stitches but was otherwise “fine” after reportedly being beaten by an angry mob in Cairo, according to a report by the U.S. television-radio program Democracy Now!

Noha Radwan, who traveled to Egypt for a family emergency, told Democracy Now! on Feb. 3: "I had to get a couple of stitches to the head … I’m fine now."

Radwan has been in telephone contact with UC Davis and has indicated that she plans to be back on campus on Tuesday, Feb. 8. The Middle East-South Assia Studies Program announced that Radwan will participate in a teach-in from 5 to 7 p.m. the night she returns. See details below.

Radwan is new to the faculty, as an assistant professor of comparative literature.

“What has happened to others is a lot more,” she said. “We have seen people get hit by the stones thrown in by the mob. They have lost their eyes. There are people with concussions.”

According to the Democracy Now! report, the attack on Radwan took place on Feb. 2 minutes after she left a downtown studio, after she had been interviewed there by Democracy Now! See Radwan's Feb. 2 and 3 appearances on Democracy Now!

Radwan said she was attacked after she refused to say whether she was for or against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

“Two big guys … help up my arms and took me out (of Tahrir Square) and they kind of handed me off to a mob, then started beating me and pulling my hair. They ripped my shirt off. They ripped a gold necklace (off).”

Today (Feb. 4), Vice Provost Bill Lacy of University Outreach and International Programs said Professor Mary Christopher made her way out of Egypt earlier this week. The veterinary pathologist is on sabbatcial from UC Davis and had been teaching in Alexandria, according to the School of Veterinary Medicine.

Chancellor Katehi relieved

Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi expressed concern for the faculty members caught up in the Egyptian turmoil.

"And, of course, all of us at UC Davis are also tremendously relieved that the UC students studying in Cairo — including one of our UC Davis students — were safely evacuated.”

She was referring to the Jan. 31 flight that carried UC program participants from Egypt.

The evacuees — including a UC Davis student in the UC Education Abroad Program — flew from Cairo to Barcelona, Spain, escaping the political unrest that threatens to topple the Egyptian government.

The evacuees comprised a total of 19 UCEAP students and an 11-member archaeology team from UCLA, plus a parent. They were due back in California later this week, according to a news release form the UC Office of the President.

The evacuation took place the same day that the UCEAP students had been scheduled to start a semester of study at American University in Cairo.

The archaeology team — UCLA students, faculty and staff — had been on a dig 200 miles south of Cairo.

"We are both happy and relieved that they have been delivered from what our overseas contacts described as an unstable situation,” UC President Mark G. Yudof said in the UCOP news release. “We have contingency plans in place for just these types of circumstances, and they worked."

Back-to-back on Feb. 8: teach-in and forum

A teach-in and a forum on the crisis in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East are scheduled back-to-back on Tuesday, Feb. 8, with faculty members due to participate in both.

TEACH-IN — "What’s Going on in Egypt and the Arab World?" 5-7 p.m., Technocultural Studies Building. The sponsoring Middle East-South Asia Studies Program and Technocultural Studies Program are describing the event as a "popular protest and collective action."

The organizers said five UC Davis faculty members, plus one from California State University, Stanislaus, will participate in a discussion aimed at offering critical analysis and historical context.

The UC Davis participants:

• Omnia El Shakry, assistant professor of history
• Suad Joseph, professor of anthropology, and director of the Middle East-South Asia Studies Program
• Flagg Miller, assistant professor of religious studies
• Susan Miller, associate professor of history
• Noha Radwan, assistant professor of comparative literature

Coming from CSU Stanislaus: As’ad AbuKhalil of the Department of Politics and Public Administration.

FORUM — "Middle East Turmoil: The People’s Turn?" Five UC Davis faculty members are scheduled to  participate in this program on the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and other parts of the Middle East. 7 p.m., 1100 Social Sciences and Humanities Building. Free and open to the public. Co-sponsored by the departments of History and Political Science; the programs of International Relations, Middle East-South Asia Studies and Religious Studies; and the Institute of Governmental Affairs.

The panelists:

• David Biale, professor and chair, Department of History — "The Effects of Regime Changes in the Middle East on Israel"
• Scott Gartner, professor of political science and director of the International Relations Program — "The International Implications of Middle East Regime Changes"
• Zeev Maoz, professor of political science — "The Regional Implications of Regime Changes in the Middle East"
• Miroslav Nincic, professor of political science — "The Implications of Middle East Regime Changes on U.S. Foreign Policy"
• Keith David Watenpaugh, associate professor of religious studies — "Human Rights in the Middle East: Are We at a Turning Point?"

More information is available from Maoz, (530) 752-0966 or zmaoz@ucdavis.edu.