The annual Founders’ Day ceremony commemorated the very day, December 3, on which in 1866 the first classes of the then Syrian Protestant College were held in rented rooms in Ras Beirut. On December 3, 2003, 137 years later, in the Assembly Hall the AUB community, visiting friends, and dignitaries honored the founders in a special celebration under the theme "Respect and Tolerance for Others."

The program featured the traditional colorful entry of faculty and university officials in full academic regalia; the singing of the national anthem, the "Alma Mater," and a selection by Bach sung by the AUB choir; the welcoming address of President Waterbury; the reading of the winning essay in the Founders’ Day essay contest, and the address of the guest speaker, Clovis Maksoud.

Addressing the theme "Tolerance and Respect for Others," President Waterbury evoked the more than century-old words of President Daniel Bliss committing the University to tolerance and moral guidance. Both the keynote speaker and the winner of the fifth annual Founders Day essay contest dealt with the theme realistically, in terms of actual problems in the turbulent world of the twenty-first century.

Announcing this year's competition winner, Zahra Hankir, a sophomore English major and associate editor of the student newspaper Outlook, President Waterbury emphasized that each year the essay contest theme addresses a core value of the University. The jury consisted of a committee chaired by Iman Nuwayhid of the Department of Environmental Health, Huwayda al-Harithy of the Department of Architecture, and John Meloy of the Department of History. President Waterbury thanked the committee and the other 21 contestants and described the winning essay as "challenging" and "brave."

Reading her prize-winning essay, Zahra Hankir was fervent as she described her learning experience with a visiting professor in the Department of English--a homosexual. A well-known novelist, this professor nourished Hankir's understanding of tolerance and respect. "We must tolerate all beings," she wrote, "if not for the sake of being rational, for the sake of giving all the equal opportunity to earn respect, a trait that cannot be matched." She concluded, "AUB has, in a roundabout yet miraculous way, taught me that come what may tolerance is the true key to universal respect."

Clovis Maksoud, currently professor of international relations and director of the Center for the Global South at the American University in Washington, DC, has had a long career as teacher, journalist, lawyer, author, and diplomat. He served as Arab League representative to the United States and the United Nations and as the league's ambassador to India.

Maksoud cited new intolerance in the world following the events of September 11, 2001.  Yet he insisted that Arabs and Muslims do not hate the United States and Americans--rather, they are angry.  Professor Maksoud warned that the Americans will be unable to "win the hearts and minds of the Arabs" as long as the US does not change its policies on the Palestine question and as long as it does not credibly expedite the process of restoring sovereignty to Iraq and instantly help empower the UN to administer the transition towards an Iraqi administration whose legitimacy is unquestionable."

Turning his analysis to problems at home, Maksoud said, "In Lebanon we musk seek reconciliation and avoid compromises," for  “reconciliation cements national unity" and "renders tolerance the constant."  Tolerance, he concluded "means opening up and engaging with other cultures and peoples."

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