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West
Hall Rededicated |
West Hall, shrouded for more than two years behind construction walls, stone dust, and the noise of industrial machinery, erupted into new life during the last week of February, following the rededication ceremony on Monday, February 24. Intermittent chilling rains (the same weather prevailed when West Hall was first opened 89 years ago on February 24, 1914) failed to dampen the spirits of those in the procession. Senior administrators and faculty members in full academic regalia, representatives of student clubs and societies (members of the English Students Society were dressed in colorful medieval gowns), moved beneath the showers en route from Ada Dodge Hall to the University's student union building, the heart and "soul of the University." Students, faculty, friends, and other members of the university community filled the upstairs landings while others crowded into the first floor to attend the opening program; still others milled around the outside porch. Dean of Student Affairs Maroun Kisirwani welcomed the audience, extending a special welcome to members of the West family, who had flown in from the United States for the rededication of the student center named in honor of their grandfather and great-grandfather Robert Haldane West, who served at AUB from 1884 until his untimely death in 1906. President Waterbury highlighted a phrase President Howard Bliss had used to eulogize Robert West; Bliss said West had "a noble discontent." "We should all possess such a quality. . . ," said President Waterbury, a "quality that has made AUB great in the past, and it is that quality, and that quality above all, that will make us great in the future." After President Waterbury recognized all those who helped bring about the rehabilitation of West Hall, including an anonymous donor and American Schools and Hospitals Abroad, Allen West, spokesperson for the five members of the West family, presented the president with a photograph taken in Damascus in 1891 showing three members of his family who had given the Syrian Protestant College and AUB "a total of over 70 years of service." West concluded, "In these difficult times, more than ever, we need institutions like this to help us, as individuals and in groups, nourish our agreements and resolve our quarrels peacefully. Whenever I think of the American University of Beirut I have hope for the future." The AUB Choir sang a composition written especially for the occasion by choir director Paul Meers. The words, a poem by Elias Abu Saba, '56, praised "the inspiration," "warm welcome," and "shade of West Hall." In the newly appointed auditorium, named after the chief donor, Suheil Raji Bathish, '59, tributes to Bathish were followed by a lively program of dances, singing, a fashion-show, a gymnastics exhibition, presented, designed, and acted by AUB students under the direction of David Kurani, theater director. The speeches, music, spirit, light, and color all gave proof: The heart of the University is beating again.
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