Around 65 percent of the university was destroyed, says Yunus Karim, director of communications for Mosul university. Buildings on the sprawling campus were destroyed both through bombing by the allied coalition fighting the IS group and by the IS group, who had a scorched earth policy as they withdrew.
One of the worst affected buildings was the central library, which was almost completely burned. Close to the central library, a Yazidi woman, Feryal Sido, is distributing sweets to her friends and fellow students because today is a Yazidi religious occasion. She is sitting with Sunni Muslim and Shiite Muslim students and they appear to be enjoying one another’s company.
But there is also a dark undertone to all of this: There is no doubt that if Sido had been at home when the IS group attacked Yazidi towns in the middle of 2014, she too might have been taken captive and sold into slavery along with thousands of others from her ethno-religious group.
The people in Mosul still lack confidence in Iraq’s social system and there’s no doubt that, despite the university scene, deep down many people here wonder if coexistence is possible in the long term in Iraq.
Some of the teaching staff certainly believe it is. They see Mosul university as an example of that possibility.
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