Student activities are of many kinds. Starting with trips, the list extends to include exhibitions, concerts, movies, debates, conferences, plays, sports, and student publications. Over the past three decades, students have once again broadened their involvement to include activities of a political nature such as the release of political statements and the organization of demonstrations. Over the years, politicized student activities prevailed over all kinds of other activities. Exhibitions carried themes related to on-going political events, concerts were mostly of national types, movies reflected the frustrating socio-political situation, and debates hosted socio-political and economically involved figures.
The Palestinian cause, the Israeli aggression against Lebanon, and the Iraqi suffering from the boycott were all incarnated in one way or another in student activities. Sponsors of these activities dominated student representative bodies, forcing other types of extra-curricular activities into a near dormant state. The result was the alienation of non-politicized students and their detachment from student life.
Today since the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority in the Jericho-Gaza strip in Palestine, the cause has been smothered and the zeal of its advocates diminished. Similarly, with the unilateral withdrawal of the Israeli troops from Lebanon, no longer will March 14 be commemorated with demands for the implementation of UN Resolution 425, which required the unconditional withdrawal of the Israeli troops from Lebanon.
Furthermore, most student political groups have lost their common anti-Israeli rhetoric. Demonstrations protesting against the Israeli aggression against Lebanon will also cease and most student political groups will find themselves practically unemployed.
With the political situation in the Near East becoming stagnant, students will hardly find any material to dwell on in their activities. Add to this stagnation the lagging behind of student machinery and tools employed over the past thirty years in the propagation of student ideas. Circulars, bulletins, and posters (mostly in black and white and usually carrying the same slogans and clichés) have gone out of fashion.
Perhaps student political cadres should now step aside and make way for the creativity of ordinary students. Literary events such as poetry readings and drama productions must resume their prominence. Sports must get more support. Student conferences must be held and international students from abroad must be invited. AUB's yearbook must re-appear on a yearly basis. And, what about purchasing new equipment for the Cine Club, reestablishing a radio station, or even starting an AUB TV station?
"Tribal" student clubs have become so obsolete at AUB (I say "tribal" because each club has been taken over by a political or sectarian faction). Students, especially student representatives, must reconsider this situation. They have to think about new innovative means to motivate the student body. Look at the Games Club for instance. Its games are limited to card playing and dice shooting. Moreover, students spend hours in nearby PC clubs entertaining themselves with arcades and computer games such as Red Alert. Has anyone thought of investing in a couple of computers and a network for the Games Club so that its games would at least match today's commercial offerings? The Games Club could then charge prices cheaper than those outside and even make some profit.
The key word behind the modernization of student activity is, in addition to plans and organization, money. Money must be available from the student fund for new and creative student activities. Enough of the barbed wire and tires on which we have been spending so much time over the past two years in order to construct huge models that symbolize the suffering and/or the culture of the Arab peoples. Money from the student fund must be spent more wisely. We should start thinking of long term investment in the infra-structure of the AUB clubs (sound systems, computers, musical instruments, etc). The rehabilitation of West Hall, the home of the clubs, will give them the chance to rebuild themselves within a two-year time span.
Let's take the student publication, Outlook, as an example. Outlook was revived in May 1997. It started as a monthly black and white publication. Outlook's technology was poor. Nevertheless, its team succeeded in increasing the publication's production to two issues per month by October 1999 and in maintaining a regularly updated web site by March 2000.
From the feedback of our readers, we have learned that Outlook has made great progress. Over the past three years, Outlook has been recruiting new staff and updating technology. Our aim has been to bring Outlook back to its former prominence. We know that Outlook was a bimonthly publication from 1949 to 1961. Between 1961 and 1975, Outlook became so popular it was publishing weekly. Today, we believe we are able once again to sustain weekly publication.
With all due modesty, we present this publication as an example of progress during the age of regression in student activities. We hope student clubs will take it as an example and follow in our footsteps if they intend to remobilize the student body and its activities. Otherwise, Outlook will have no news to print with no activities to cover, and Outlook itself will be searching for some alternative news lest its staff become unemployed and it has to shut down.