Front row: The honorary degree awardees. From left: Lakhdar Brahimi, Helen Thomas, Carlos Ghosn, Hasib Sabbagh, Amin Maalouf, and Edward Said.

In the last years of the 19th century AUB initiated an Honorary Degree Program in which the university sought to affirm its values and virtues through the recognition of individuals of outstanding achievement and personal merit.

These degrees were not easily earned. The first was awarded in 1890, while the twelfth was awarded in 1969. A few years later the war started and the program was shelved as AUB struggled to survive.

Efforts to restart the program began after the turn of the new century and the program resumed last year with a call for nominations of candidates for honorary PhD degrees in six broad fields: academia; public and non-governmental affairs, arts and culture, business, other professions,and the media.

On Saturday, June 28, 2003 at noon, a ceremony was held at Assembly Hall to award the first AUB honorary degrees in more than three decades. The degrees were given to Edward Said, Amin Maalouf, Carlos Ghosn, Hasib Sabbagh, Helen Thomas, and Lakhdar Brahimi.

The ceremony was attended by former President of the Republic Elias Hraoui, former House Speaker Hussein Husseini, former Premier Salim Hoss, and a host of other dignitaries. AUB Board of Trustees Chairman Richard Debs and Trustees Ali Ghandour, Mirna Bustani, Nabil Chartouni, Farouk Jabre, Mohammad Mashnouk, Hutham Olayan, Sana Sabbagh, Kamal Shair, Leila Sharaf, Munib Masri, and Osmane Aïdi also attended. President Waterbury and Provost Peter Heath were also present. The ceremony began with the processional and the singing of the Lebanese National Anthem. Then President John Waterbury welcomed the audience and introduced each one of the awardees. As the president announced the conferral of the degree, Provost Heath placed the hood on the shoulders of each candidate. x

 

The audience at Assembly Hall.

The president began his introductions with Edward Said, who received his Honorary Doctorate in the field of Academia. He observed that Professor Said has earned more than the label "Renaissance Man" and is honored for his achievements in literary criticism and comparative literature. He added that Professor Said's 40-year career at Columbia University has "been packed with intellectual explosions that only truly creative minds can trigger."

Edward Said replied that this was a terrible time to be both an Arab and an American and pointed out that AUB, "an impossible institution," has historically been a place where coexistence and understanding have always been central, and was built of American and Arab currents and counter-currents. He said its men and women have enabled and embodied its education mission, despite all odds and unimaginable difficulties.

Amin Maalouf was awarded the doctor of humane letters degree in arts and letters. The president called him a wanderer, whose home has been France since 1977. He said that Maalouf is always listening to historical origins, and is a man at the crossroads, aware of the corridors of wealth, power, and pilgrimage that have linked the Mediterranean to Europe, the Far East, and Africa.

President Waterbury with BOT Chairman Debs, Provost Heath, trustees Ghandour and Bustani, and Chief Marshal Alex Abdelnoor during the ceremony.

In his speech of acceptance, Maalouf recalled how his grandmother had moved from her village to the vicinity of AUB sixty-eight years ago with her six children, seeking the "advancement" they would get if they studied at AUB. Her own father and uncle had been among the very first SPC/AUB students, back in the 1860s. Maalouf regretted that the dream of his forefathers of achieving for this land the highest levels of freedom, human dignity, advancement in scientific research and development of ideas, has not been fulfilled. He said the task was challenging but not hopeless. Carlos Ghosn, whose extraordinary business career has been built around the automotive industry, was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters in the area of business. The president pointed out that Carlos Ghosn engineered the merger of Michelin North America with Uniroyal-Goodrich. Later, after moving to Nissan, he brought the company out of the red, achieving in one year a $6.4 billion positive swing in the firm's net profits.

In reply, Ghosn said that he always placed a premium on education, which is a kind of continuing dialog, and that he has been enriched by the diversity of opinions and cultural perspectives to which he has been exposed. He said education is a lifelong endeavor, and that life is a university where one has to stretch continually to fulfill one's potential, and that this is the ideal adopted at Nissan.

Hasib Sabbagh's honorary degree was also awarded for business. The president introduced him as a builder in every sense of the word, adding that he poured his energy into building companies, buildings, and human beings. He added that he is an instinctive and consistent philanthropist.

Reading Sabbagh's reply, his daughter Sana recalled that when he started his life's journey in 1948 as a Palestinian refugee, he had two passports which enabled him to achieve and to build his life: The Lebanese passport -- and his AUB passport, a degree in civil engineering.

He said that he built physical bridges, along with bridges of understanding between different people, and that in the post 9/11 era, more than ever, a constructive dialog should be engaged between East and West, pointing out that AUB is uniquely positioned to contribute towards this endeavor. Sabbagh closed by expressing his eternal gratitude to two AUB-trained physicians who saved his life after a severe stroke.

Helen Thomas, the only woman among the awardees and the first woman ever to receive an honorary degree from AUB, was next. She received the honorary degree in recognition of her work in the media. The president said that through doggedness, competency and unflagging energy, she "broke many barriers and many glass ceilings," becoming the first woman officer of both the National Press Club and the White House Correspondents Association. He said that she traveled frequently with different presidents, accompanying Nixon on his historic visit to China in 1972 and five other presidents to economic summits.

Helen Thomas underscored in her speech her parents' belief that education was a passport to a better life. She said that they sent their nine children to college and that all of them were proud of their Lebanese American heritage with its mixed principles of friendships, giving, hospitality, and the freedoms of speech, press and religion. Lakhdar Brahimi, the final awardee, received his honorary doctorate in humane letters - public affairs). The president named some of the far-flung troublespots in which he has been the special envoy of the UN secretary general, and recalled his seven years of effort as the under-secretary general of the Arab League when he strove to bring about an end to the fighting in Lebanon. The president described him as a peacemaker, unafraid of turmoil and violence.

Lakhdar Brahimi recalled in his acceptance speech how he had traveled the world far and wide on behalf of the Algerian government, the Arab League, and the United Nations, serving one objective: the promotion of cooperation and understanding among men, and among countries. In his experience hope will always prevail and the human spirit is never defeated. He also said that he is immensely proud of receiving his honorary degree from the American University of Beirut, and that it is universally respected and admired. He lauded the founding fathers, "the men of vision who came from America in the 19th century to establish" the University. He called AUB an unequaled center of learning in the Middle East and a model of cooperation between the United States and the Arab and Muslim World.

The ceremony closed with the alma mater, and was followed by a private gathering at Marquand House in honor of the six awardees, attended by Prime Minister Trustee Rafic Hariri

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