This article offers a glimpse into one of the many ways in which the Egyptian government and the campus administrators it appoints are slowly and persistently squeezing the life out of universities in Cairo, Egypt. Classroom discussions are monitored, faculty appointments and academic research are scrutinized, and faculty participation in outside activities is vetted by government authorities and their appointees. The government's goal, academics and human-rights activists say, is to stifle anything that could challenge the status quo in Egypt, which has been ruled by President Hosni Mubarak since 1981. Fearful of inflaming the growing ranks of Islamists in Cairo, Mr. Mubarak's quasi-military regime has also reined in any campus activities that might offend religious conservatives. Professors are banned from teaching a wide range of books and discussing controversial topics like sex and religion, and are often prevented as well from conducting research projects that might be construed as blasphemous.