Cash crisis at American University of Beirut ‘threat to liberal Arab thought’

Lebanese economic crash and pandemic fallout are perfect storm, AUB president tells Arab News

The future of modern liberal Arab thought is in peril because of the twin threats facing the American University of Beirut (AUB), its president has told Arab News.

The implosion of the Lebanese economy and the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic had created a perfect storm, Dr. Fadlo Khuri said. “Lebanon is collapsing economically, and the world is entering into probably the deepest recession and the first true depression since the late 1920s-early 1930s,” he said.

“It’s critical that AUB not only survives, but thrives in the region.

Otherwise, the region and the evolution of modern liberal Arab thought will be seriously at risk.” AUB has educated the Arab world’s elite thinkers for more than 150 years — leading figures in medicine, law, science and art, as well as scholars and political leaders including prime ministers and presidents. “There’s nothing like us,”

Khuri said.

As financial pressures mount, however, Khuri expects a 60 percent reduction in revenue in the next academic year, bringing staff cuts and the scrapping of some departments and programs. “Temporary sacrifices will have to be made as the implosion of Lebanon’s economy poses a fundamental challenge,” he said. “Lebanon has been living beyond its means as a country for a while and we’ve been concerned about this.”

AUB has received a $2.5 million grant from the US government to help cope with the pandemic, and 300 alumni have contributed over $60,000. “Our community has been, and will continue to be, generous, but at some point we need federal assistance from the two governments,” Khuri said.

Despite the challenges, the president says he cannot envisage an Arab world without AUB at its heart. “No institution contributes more high-quality research per faculty member,” he said. “AUB is … the Arab world’s landmark, a top-quality liberal arts research university, and it is in all of our interests that this institution thrives.”

It’s critical that AUB not only survives, but thrives in the region.

Dr. Fadlo Khuri AUB president

It is not easy to remain emotionally detached when one writes about one’s alma mater, particularly when it is facing the worst crisis since it was founded.

Despite being one of the Arab world’s oldest universities, the American University of Beirut (AUB) finds itself at the heart of Lebanon’s unfolding financial, economic and public-health catastrophe. The situation it is in makes writing about AUB achingly difficult, because I regard it as a second home.

It all began on Jan. 23, 1862, when W. M. Thomson, a prominent American Protestant missionary and author of “The Land and the Book” (1859), proposed to a meeting of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions that a college of higher learning should be established in Beirut, with Dr. Daniel Bliss as its president.

Historical documents reveal that on April 24, 1863, while Bliss was raising money for the college in the US and the UK, the state of New York granted a charter for the Syrian Protestant College. The institution, renamed the American University of Beirut in the early 1920s, opened on Dec. 3, 1866. There were 16 students in that inaugural class. Bliss served as president from the opening of the college until 1902.

The university was destined not only to share its fate with the region in which it was founded, but also to help shape it. During its 154 years of existence, AUB has survived two world wars, famines, civil strife, epidemics and changing regional maps, as well as economic booms and busts — all this in one of the world’s most turbulent areas. It is a testament to the institution’s commitment to excellence in education and its promotion of intellectual vigor that throughout its history, AUB graduates in a number of fields have continued to have significant, wide-ranging effects on the region and the world.

No fewer than 19 alumni were delegates to the signing of the UN Charter in 1945; more than from any other university in the world. AUB graduates, Arabs and non-Arabs, continue to serve in leadership positions as heads of state, prime ministers, cabinet ministers, members of parliament, ambassadors, governors of central banks, university presidents and deans of colleges.

Many others became renowned figures. The Lebanese Civil War, from 1975 to 1990, marked another milestone. Its medical facilities saved tens of thousands of lives.

Despite the tireless efforts to foster peace, AUB did not emerge from the war unscathed, however. In 1982, American David S. Dodge, the university’s acting president, was kidnapped on campus by pro-Iranian extremists and held hostage for a year before being released.

On Jan. 18, 1984, Malcolm H. Kerr, an American citizen born and raised in Beirut who succeeded Dodge as the university’s president, was shot and killed outside his office, allegedly by members of Islamic Jihad. Throughout 1984 and 1985, a number of university staff were kidnapped.

Despite this, the spirit of AUB prevailed through all the challenges. This spirit continues to nourish and nurture this landmark institution as it strides confidently into the future.

During its 154 years of existence, AUB has survived two world wars, famines, civil strife, epidemics and changing maps.