 |
  --------------- |
|||
|
|
--------------- |
|||
|
Founder's Day Ceremony AUB and Critical Thinking |
||
|
»
You are at page 1
|
Pages:
Home 1
2 3 4
5 6 7
8 9 10
11 12 |
|
The
annual Founders' Day Ceremony, focusing this year on critical thinking,
was held in the Assembly Hall on December 9 to avoid possible collision
with Eid al Fitr celebrations.
The
traditional Founders' Day Ceremony format--solemn processional and recessional
by members of the administration and staff in colorful, medieval academic
gowns; the reading of the prize-winning essay by the student author and
the awarding of the prize; the address by the guest speaker; the singing
of the alma mater by the AUB choir--was dominated this year by the outspoken
and inspiring address of the guest speaker, Rima Khalaf Hunaidi.
Introducing
the winner of the student essay contest, Darine Abdelahad, a third year
student in computer and communications engineering, President Waterbury
described critical
thinking as steadfastly coming to conclusions "which may not be popular
and may also be dangerous." When he presented the winner with a prize
of $500 and a copy of the Arab Human Development Report following her
reading of her essay on critical thinking, the president congratulated
her and said that of the two prizes, the report was by far the more valuable. Drawing on her personal experience as a student at AUB and her work with the Arab Human Development Report, the former Jordanian minister and member of parliament paid tribute to the mission of AUB, "its excellence in teaching, and its empowering and liberating environment. AUB is not tolerant of diversity," she said; "it thrives on it." Underscoring the importance of critical thinking, she pointed out how the members of the report team began their "task out of a constructive impatience with failed prescriptions and failing development of our part of the world." With the mandate, "Challenge everything and everyone," the report urged the Arab world to look at problems from new angles and to assess its weaknesses creatively. "Two decades of economic stagnation," she pointed out, "today means that it will take the average Arab 140 years to double her or his income." It is time, she said, for Arabs, to face up to their own problems themselves".In describing the work of the report team, she linked human development to guaranteeing human rights. The report was unflinching in its assessment of the weaknesses of the region. "On essential freedoms, the Arab world ranks dead last; on ICT, the most popular conductor of knowledge today, even sub-Saharan Africa is better wired to the world; and on women's empowerment, we were second from last among world regions." In conclusion, Dr. Hunaidi elucidated the role of universities, especially AUB, in facing the challenges of the day. "In the Arab Human Development Report, we undertook self-criticism in order to steer away from self-destruction, and we acknowledge the reality of our region today, not because it is inevitable, but because we believe it is surmountable. An Arab Renaissance is a glorious possibility, and we together can make it happen." As the speaker stepped down, an atmosphere of hope, optimism, and determination was palpable in the Assembly Hall. Following Dr. Hunaidi's forceful speech, the ceremony concluded, traditionally, with the singing of the alma mater and the solemn recessional. |
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
