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Let's
debate
By Elias Abou Samra---
In his Opening Ceremony speech to the AUB community, President
Waterbury raised various controversial issues concerning terrorism,
democracy, innocence and globalization among many other issues.
He urged all members of this academic institution to open the
floor for discussion and debate. ÒIt is to seek understanding
of such issues that universities exist in the first place,Ó
said Waterbury. It is indeed time for students, faculty and
everyone who belongs to this respectful community to establish
a communication infrastructure that enables them to interact
properly. Past experience has proven communication between AUB
students and their administration to be unsuccessful. This is
evident in the studentsÕ resort to no less than eight student
demonstrations just last year. Three of them were against increase
in tuition fees and tuition payment rescheduling, another was
in demand of a greater freedom of expression, while the others
revolved around political issues concerning Lebanon and the
Middle East. Usually, people demonstrate when all other channels
of self-expression prove to be inefficient. The question that
therefore asks itself here is,Ò are demonstrations the proper
means for communication between students and the administration?Ó
There could be two reasons behind this drawback: either AUB
students are weak communicators, or senior administrative officials
are poor listeners. In March 2000, two students, Kamal Sanjakdar
from the University Student Faculty Council and Kamal Sleiman
from the Student Representative Council, received DeanÕs Warnings
for reviving the SpeakersÕ Corner, a popular student activity
that existed before the beginning of the civil war in 1975.
Sanjakdar and Sleiman received the warnings for violating the
Board of DeansÕ decision opposing the organization of a public
debate outdoors on campus. In May 2001, a full page was censored
from an Outlook issue because it covered a student debate on
the Syrian presence in Lebanon. The Board of Deans once more
stood against the studentsÕ right to express their economic
and political views freely. These are two concrete examples
where the administration blocked student initiatives that strove
to answer questions very similar to those raised by President
Waterbury in the Opening Ceremony. But if what Waterbury says
is true and if we take him upon his word, then the new academic
year is expected to be carrying some radical changes. Students
under such circumstances should exercise their freedom of expression
and discuss all sort of issues that appeal to their interest
under the umbrella of WaterburyÕs speech last week. |
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