President Dorman: "Let us hope that we never discover the whole and absolute Truth"

Robed professors enter Assembly Hall for the 2008-09 Opening Ceremony

While inaugurating the academic year 2008-09, AUB's newly appointed president Peter Dorman saw optimism in a world where absolute truth is absent and fallibility is certain. No matter how startling that may sound, this reality will urge AUB students and faculty to continue their dedication to question "the sum of human knowledge with open and skeptical minds, fully aware of its fallibility, and even grateful for it, because of the opportunities it offers us to explore uncharted avenues of thought and to discover new knowledge," said by President Dorman.

Members of AUB's Board of Trustees (BOT), vice presidents, staff, and students packed Assembly Hall on October 6 to listen to President Dorman give his opening address, entitled "Education at AUB: the Importance of Fallibility."

Dorman, who stressed the importance of questioning truths in a fallible world, said that what AUB teaches its students is more than just practical skills. "We teach our students how to learn; we lead them down the roads of different methodologies, of different problems of inquiry. We invite them to participate in a journey of self-discovery that can last for an entire lifetime," said Dorman.

In his address he recounted the reactions he received when talking to alumni whose AUB education rendered them good citizens of the world. "They spoke of how AUB had altered their perspectives, had given them a different outlook, had changed their lives. They spoke of their conviction that AUB represents hope for the future, a place where tolerance is actively fostered, where responsibility is encouraged, a place that has always played a leadership role in education and research, where the ideals of diversity are celebrated...The alumni perspective is a useful one to attend to, as it reflects the experience of our graduates in the real world, far outside the campus walls, and often years after they graduate. The qualities of hope, tolerance, diversity, and public responsibility, so often mentioned by our alumni, are not listed in any course catalogue; they are not part of the required general education curriculum."

President Dorman added that AUB teaches its students critical thinking and ways to question the world. "We know full well that the apparent certainties of the past can be leavened, changed, and overturned by the experience and insights of today. The tempo of debate is especially freewheeling in the humanities and social sciences, where often the very terms of debate are debated. But even the physical and biological sciences, which are securely grounded in the methods of quantitative measurement and repeatable observation, achieve their progress through the development and substantiation of what are resolutely called 'theories,' even when these theories have become far from theoretical," he said.

"In the last 142 years, AUB has achieved a large degree of fame and respect in the minds of its alumni and friends by promoting qualities of hope, tolerance, diversity, and public service?as much as, or even more than, for the academic