When female students leave home to study, they can find themselves in dormitories that look like prisons. If they object, their university studies become threatened.

Sama will never forget that moment, one day in 2018, when she was asked to take off all her clothes in the search for evidence against one of the students in the dormitory at the Medical Centre in Missan.  

She was horrified and humiliated by the behaviour of the women supervisors of the department which took place after they found unbagged sanitary napkins inside a waste bin. The women supervisors made a big fuss, scolding the students, and accusing them of being dirty. They threatened to physically search all the students to find the owner of the pads to punish her.  

In the end, the supervisors did not carry out their threat.  They realised they had succeeded in intimidating the students, creating another bad memory of the bitter life living in dorms.  

Phones, Toast, Fans, and everything is open to being searched  

Inspection is centred on smartphones and laptops, which are not allowed in dormitories. When Adyan studied at the Faculty of Engineering at Dhi Qar University from 2016 to 2021, she lived in the dormitories for some of that time and experienced the search for smartphones.  

‘The supervisors would even search our underwear looking for our mobiles,’ she told Jummar.  

She added that complaints from the parents of female students, who came from Dhi Qar’s districts and suburbs, which were made against the administration of the dorms led to the issuing of a circular banning the use of smart devices. This also intensified the searches.  

To register a student and allow the use of smartphone devices, the administration now requires that a student remove the camera from the phone or computer or use older versions of phones that are free of cameras and other modern technologies. According to the testimony of more than one student in more than one governorate, students are required to sign a written pledge when they register not to bring modern devices with cameras into the dormitories.  

In order to keep her phone when she lived in the dormitories at the University of Mosul from 2018 to 2023, Reem had to hire a technician to remove the camera.  

At Wasit University’s dormitory, Maryam always wondered why they were so afraid of the phone’s camera. During her time studying dentistry between 2019 to 2023, she and her classmates were consistently searched.  

As a result, she was deprived of documenting her university moments on her phone. When she needed the phone for study purposes, she reported this to the assistant director of the internal departments, asking her to verify her need with the dean of the college.  The official told her that the dean knew of and had approved the internal department’s policies, making her request unacceptable.  

Bribery also works in these places. A student can bring in a phone without scrutiny if she also brings an internet modem and gives it to the supervisors, said Adyan.  

The actual searches are conducted periodically in the students’ dormitories. They are more than just a threat, lasting nearly two hours each day, during which no one is allowed to leave their rooms.  

‘There was a morning and evening inspection of our devices and our bodies, conducted in a disgusting way,’ Mariam told Jummar.  

In the Dhi Qar University department, inspections are conducted daily or weekly and unannounced. At any time, supervisors would break into students’ rooms without knocking on the doors to search their belongings, their bodies, and any place where a phone might be hidden to make sure there was no breach of the rules.  

The inspection in Sama’s department was conducted when the students were in classes. The supervisors entered their rooms without their knowledge to search their belongings. They also asked professors to monitor the students. The professors were quick to inform the department administration when they saw a smartphone in the possession of a student.  

In the dormitories of the Technological University in Baghdad, where Mais studied from 2014 to 2018, searches are conducted approximately four times a week, including even of the contents on laptops. The supervisors make sure that there are no pornographic or erotic films in the possession of students. They watch all films that they find on a student’s computer in full, lest it contain an intimate scene.  

The search is not limited to computers and phones. Everything is subject to inspection, even napkins, slices of toast and the tops of ceiling fans!  

Don’t even think about wearing Bermuda shorts 

One day when Reem returned home tired from class, she took off her shirt and lay down on the bed. She was startled by the sound of the door slamming and one of the supervisors shouting at her for being in her undershirt and trousers. According to the supervisors’ rules, girls are not allowed to look at each other while wearing household clothes such as flannels, Bermudas, and shorts. They must be modest even when they are in a place where men do not enter.  

The control and inspection of boarding students extends to their bodies, clothing and behaviour. Every piece of clothing and behaviour is subject to accountability.  

‘The list of prohibited clothes is prepared by the supervisors. It is constantly changing according to their moods and moral standards,’ Reem told Jummar.  

As for Mays, who came to Baghdad from Maysan, she was faced with the difficulties of dealing with preconceived notions of her city as conservative. She had to wear what is consistent with her being from Maysan and undergo more strict controls than students from other cities. Throughout her time at the university, Mais was subjected to measurements related to the length of her shirt, the width of the trousers, and the length of the skirt. She had to adhere to these measurements to keep her place in the dormitory section.  

A year after Mays graduated, Raghad enrolled at Samarra University to study architecture. She lived in the university’s dormitory.  

Raghad recalled that one day a supervisor prevented her from going to work because she didn’t like her clothes.  

‘Students living in dormitories are accused of being free from parental supervision, so they are likely to engage in immoral acts. On this basis, they are dealt with harshly,’ she told Jummar.  

Because of this strictness, non-hijab wearing students have been forced to wear the hijab to escape the restriction and discrimination of the dormitories.  

The censorship also extends to students’ behaviour and relationships on campus. This can have serious consequences. One day, the assistant director of the internal department called Mays’ mother to tell her that her daughter hung out mainly with guys at the university. This got her in trouble with her mother.  

Mays recounted stories of students who were accused of smoking cigarettes and others of stealing who were reported to their parents. This led to them being punished by being banned from continuing their studies.  

Death or no way out  

Because the department’s drinking water tanks are unclean, students are forced to buy water from a nearby kiosk, which they later discovered was also unfit for drinking. Poor students are forced to drink the unclean water because they do not have enough money to buy sterilised water. All students are not allowed to leave the department to shop and buy water.  

‘The college ends at 14:30, and a student who is late until 14:45 is in big trouble and they call her parents,’ said Adyan.  

She and her classmates would wait for a lecture slot to become free or miss a lecture if they wanted to go out for a walk or to do some shopping, in order to return before the end of the day and avoid trouble.  

Deliverymen are not allowed to enter the campus to deliver their food and drink orders, which was a major issue that was only resolved after a year-long petition. The solution was to assign the department’s guard to go to the university gate to collect the orders, in exchange for a fee which is paid by the students.  

Mariam also experienced similar suffering at Wasit University.  

Mariam recalled that everything was subject to inspection in the dormitory, even food, which was turned over and examined by supervisors to make sure it did not contain anything forbidden.  

After the inspection, the student’s father would be contacted to ensure that the food was sent by a trusted party. If the father was busy, the mother would be contacted.  

‘They don’t allow students to receive food from an unknown source,’ Mariam told Jummar.  

As at Dhi Qar University, students at Wasit University are not allowed to leave the campus. If they sneak out, they must return before 2pm to be allowed to enter the dormitory. If a student arrives after this time, she must provide an excuse with proof for the delay, such as being an evening study student or having a medical review.  

On exam days, the supervisor of the department would obtain a copy of the exam schedule for each student. This allows them to track her exam dates and make sure the student is committed to entering and exiting accordingly and not going anywhere else.  

Because of these restrictions, there have been delays in providing medical assistance to students, some of whom who have suffered medical emergencies and almost lost their lives.  

One evening, Adyan and her roommates rushed to the night supervisors’ room to tell them to attend to a student who was writhing in pain to the hospital. To their surprise, the supervisors refused to come to the student’s aid. One of them used the excuse that her husband did not want her to go out at night. Another refused without giving a clear reason.  

‘They didn’t agree, even though it was their duty, and there is a car in the department dedicated to such cases,’ Adyan said.  

The student continued to suffer in pain for nearly two hours, and the supervisors did not respond to requests to move until they received a threat from the students that they would file a complaint against them. In the end, Adyan and her colleagues managed to hire a taxi and take the student to the hospital. They were accompanied by one of the night supervisors, who begged them not to mention what happened in front of the administration in order to escape punishment.  

Mariam went through a similar situation when one of her classmates suffered from severe pain and sweating one night. Their pleas to the supervisor to take her to the hospital were futile.  

‘You will not come out even if you turn into a dead body,’ was the supervisor’s response to students worried about their classmate’s life.  

The supervisor decided that one case of illness was not worth leaving the classroom at night and going to the hospital for. The students cleverly dealt with the supervisor’s decision, with several of them claiming a health emergency, forcing her to agree to go to the hospital.  

While these two students did survive, Hind Mishaan lost her life in 2022 when the administration of the internal department at Anbar University refused to transfer her to the hospital after she suffered a heart attack.  

As if in a prison… Inhumane conditions  

When Mays entered the room assigned to her in the internal department of the Technological University in Baghdad, she found four other students sharing a 5 x 4 metre space with her. The room’s windows were covered with opaque adhesive sheets and locked tightly by the department’s administration, so no light or air could enter. It was impossible to see what was outside. The only outlet for the students was a small outdoor courtyard to which they were access at specific times, not unlike being in prison. They were also forced to wear specific clothes that did not violate the standards of the female supervisors.  

As for Adyan, when she arrived at the internal department at Dhi Qar University, she was given a place in a small room with seven female students, making her the eighth. The room was filled with beds lined up along all the walls, with a fridge and wardrobes, leaving the remaining space very cramped.  

The poor quality of living in the dormitories exacerbates the suffering of the students who are subject to censorship, inspection, and interference.  The dormitories also suffer from a hygiene and public health crisis – they are infested with many types of insects, rodents, and even scorpions – and have filthy bathrooms and kitchens.  

‘Garbage was always piled up and there is only one service worker who is too old to work,’ said Adyan. For this reason, students must clean the section periodically in groups, collecting the rubbish, which is then disposed of by officials from the section.  

There is no hot water in the bathrooms, which makes bathing in the winter a difficult task, especially as there are no heating devices, and the department prevents students from buying them at their own expense. In the summer, the poor electricity supply makes cooling devices useless.  

As in Dhi Qar, hot water is not available in the departments of the Technological University because the heaters do not work, and the taps are broken. For winter showers, students heat water on stoves with large metal pots they brought from home.  

When hot water was available for the first time, one of the pipes burst while a student was showering, leaving her severely burned and then hospitalised.  

No one has been held accountable after this incident, according to Mays. Nor have the relatives of the burned student filed a complaint against anyone.  

‘Who can they complain to? They know very well that no one will listen to them, so they are satisfied that their daughter survived,’ she told Jummar.  

Sama’s experience in the boarding section of the Medical Institute in Missan was no better. She lived in a very narrow room with seven other students, shared one cooker with 59 students, and one refrigerator with 11 students.  

‘The water is not clean, and cooking gas is scarce,’ said Sama.  

There were no service workers in the department. Cleaning was the responsibility of the students, who were penalised if their cleaning was not to the supervisors’ liking.  

Silence and patience  

While Reem and her classmates succeeded in getting the department administration at the University of Mosul to stop harassing them, searching them and interfering in their affairs, their protests were unsuccessful at Dhi Qar University, where Adyan was studying.  

At the Technological University, a student decided to protest the poor services after an incident in which a colleague was burned by a burst hot water pipe. She collected signatures from her colleagues to approach the department’s administration about the maintenance issue. The administration responded by dismissing her on charges of incitement and tarnishing the reputation of the department.  

Because of such arbitrary decisions, students are afraid to protest. They remain silent and patient in order to protect their academic career.  

Mariam said that protesting was not an option at Wasit University. Those who don’t like the rules of the dormitory have to pack their things and leave.  

More than one student we interviewed agreed that the partisan quotas that dominate the dormitories help protect officials and supervisors from any accountability if they violate laws or impose improvised rules that are not based on approved regulations.  

 Ayoub Abdul Hussein, secretary-general of the Iraqi Students Union, attributed the issues in the dormitories to what he described as the government’s move to abolish free state-provided education and hand it over to the private sector. He claimed the government was deliberately neglecting dormitories and even university buildings to push students towards private colleges and institutes, most of which are affiliated with parties and influential entities.  

He expressed his surprise that in 2024 there were dormitories without drinking water, washing water, electricity, internet and other essentials of decent housing for students. He also deplored the imposition of maintenance and renovation costs on students, and the imposition of standards and restrictions that contradict human rights principles and academic norms, especially in female student dormitories.  

He noted that sometimes illogical decisions are taken in some universities, for example Baghdad University, where it is forbidden to air laundry on the roof of the dormitories.  

As for the role of the Students’ Union, Abdul Hussein said that the union refers complaints from female and male students to university presidents. If they do not respond, it refers them to the Ministry of Education, and if it sees procrastination from the latter, it resorts to alternative methods of pressure, such as vigils, sit-ins and speaking to the media. It also liaises with associations concerned with defending women when it comes to the protection of female students.  

Jummar contacted heads of internal departments to comment on what was mentioned in the students’ briefings. They refused to speak to us.   

The Ministry of Higher Education did not provide a clear response to Jummar‘s questions about restrictions on female students, the searches and the banning of the use of smartphones and computers. Haider al-Aboudi, the ministry’s spokesperson, said only that, ‘The issue of dormitories is under the ministry’s care and attention. It is subject to quality measures, the highest possible level of services, and organised management.’  

The end of the nightmare  

In the last year of her four years of study, Adyan and a number of her classmates decided to leave the dorms and rent an apartment. This was after the coronavirus pandemic spread and things got out of control in the department.  

‘At the beginning of the pandemic, they told us that they would reduce the number of students in the rooms. This did not last. The department became full again and the number of infections increased dramatically,’ she told us.  

Adyan was able to rent an apartment in the end, while Maryam, in her final year, chose to leave the dormitory and live in the family home. She preferred to spend two hours travelling to the university and two hours travelling back rather than being subjected to humiliating treatment.  

But the options that Adyan and Maryam had are not available to most students who continue to live under surveillance in the dormitories.