Defining the word "student" is interesting.  It immediately brings to one's mind the figure of a person who attends a school seeking education.  When as many as 5900 students come together with another 5000 staff, the sum is defined as a community.  AUB is no exception to this definition.
   Whenever a community comes together, rules and regulations are needed to bind the behavior of the members of a said group.  At this University, the administration has been doing a commendable job in inventing and reinventing all kinds of policies:   policies for preserving the flowers, rules for dorm curfew, regulations for course registration.  However, all sets of rules and regulations present can never develop the sense of civil behavior.        
   Over the past few years, we have been trying to voice student concerns on administration policies  in an attempt to bring the administration's  attention  to issues of interest to these students.  Our slogan has always been: "The student is always right."  Today, we find ourselves standing on the side opposite side that of our student colleagues.  
   Students have rights, but they also have duties which, it seems, they have forgotten all about a while ago.
   Under the umbrella of student duties falls the issue of our constantly filthy campus.  Janitors keep on picking up cigarette butts, coffee cups, soft drink cans, tissues, and all kinds of papers all day long.  Once janitors go home, the campus becomes excessively  filthy in a matter of a couple of hours.  Students must also understand that the Outlook circulation boxes are different from the pitch-in trash bins.  (Yes, students are actually using the Outlook circulation boxes as garbage cans.)  
   No matter how many policies the administration drafts, it can never teach students how to use the trash bins. Such instruction is for kindergarten.            
   Then comes the issue of noise pollution in the University libraries.  There seems to be no solution for this problem.  The Jafet Library staff, for instance, cannot be transformed into an "Army for Silence in Jafet Library" in order to keep the library's environment quiet as it should be.  The library is, by definition,  a calm place for academic work, not for social activity.  Students must also realize that there is a big difference between Jafet Library and the Casino du Liban.
   Speaking about the library facilities, library books are public property.  Students must not underline passages in a certain book nor take notes in the books' margins.  In some books, pages have turned into a forum for debates.  One student would check out a book and write her/his commentary and another student would check out the same book at a later period of time to reply to these commentaries until the book becomes full of scratches and scribbling.
   Those students who feel that the community will forget about them after their graduation might want to contribute to student life and to ensure that their achievements would hold their memory at AUB even after they graduate.  For graffiti writing and drawings on the walls of University buildings are never everlasting.  "Modar" who was "born to bore," whatever that means, is written on every wall and in every classroom in Nicely Hall.  And who is Bassam who was here in 1994 to scribble his name next to that of James Nicely?  On the contrary, people like George Habash, Walid Joumblatt, and Samir Geagea (regardless of what we may think of the people}, are known for having been students at AUB, but you do not read their names on the walls of Fisk Hall, for example.
   Last but not least comes the student problem of noticing University announcements -- especially the announcements of the Financial Aid Office.  Many students miss the deadline for Financial Aid applications.  The most common excuse is that they did not know about the due date even though tons of circulars, e-mails, and posters were everywhere on campus.
   One problem, which is not as pressing as the ones indicated above, is that of student involvement in AUB community affairs.  Last month, several hundred students demonstrated against a potential increase in tuition fees.  But when the administration announced a presentation about its budget, only fifteen students showed up.  While Vice President for Financial Affairs John Bernson was giving, in Ada Dodge Hall, one of the most thorough budget presentations ever delivered, three tables were not enough to accommodate student card players just outside that building.  One administrator commented sarcastically, "Maybe we should send these students to Las Vegas as part of the University's investments," and he was right.  Students, just like most citizens in this part of the world, seem to prefer mob demonstrations and card games, over academic presentations and discussions.
   Our fellow colleagues, excuse us this time for writing against your attitude whereas we are supposed to write on your behalf.  But it is about time for us to say what we think to be right regardless of whom you think to be always wrong.