We as students would have liked to have the opportunity to demonstrate on April 13 not only to commemorate but also to take a stand, a stand for freedom of speech and expression, against the use of violence with students and against the use of violence in all its forms in the political debate in Lebanon. One cannot undermine the seriousness of the general atmosphere the country has been passing through during the last few months. We have heard of fistfights, demonstrations and counter demonstrations, communiqués and sit-ins. We have even had the chance to read some of the most violent communiqués in the country. It seems that the Lebanese people didn't learn anything from 15 years of war. In three days the country returned to the pre-war atmosphere.
   In all this turmoil where do the forces of change stand? Where do the educated students of AUB stand? Is there any student interest in building up this country? Is there any student public opinion in AUB? Well, we can easily answer the above by nowhere and no. Those interested or aware are restricted to 100 politically affiliated students and another 50 spectators, the same audience in all the socio-political events of AUB. Those are the same who discuss Lebanese issues at West Hall, the same who attend lectures and exhibitions, the same who run for elections and the same who read this weekly newspaper. The rest seem to be a big sleepy student body of 5900 students de passage in AUB and in Lebanon.
   One of the "hot" issues, or maybe I should say "supposedly hot" issues, is that of the financial situation of AUB. The next University budget will be approved in the coming few months. Due to the usual deficit in this budget, we might face an increase in the tuition fees for the next year. Several signs permit us to predict such an increase. 
   The University administration has delivered several presentations on the budget. One was before the University Student Faculty Committee.  Another two were open to all students: the first by Provost Heath and the second by Vice President Bernson. Both public presentations were advertised by e-mail to the whole AUB community. In the most irresponsible and immature manner, few students took the trouble to attend:  the number of students at those presentations did not exceed 50. 
   The next phenomenon we will surely witness on campus is that of discontent and nagging about the constant and sustainable increase in tuition fees by students who did not bother to pursue their own interest and to attend the presentations. Those students might also have the nerve to participate in demonstrations against the high tuition in AUB without having any idea about the University budget. 
   I am not in any way defending the University budget;  on the contrary I am trying to lobby against it: against the high tuition fees and for the numerous ways the deficit can be reduced. But who is there to listen? Our student representatives in the USFC cannot voice our concerns and plead for our interest if we don't back them up.  How can the USFC students argue against tuition increase if no students bothered to learn about the budget? Do students read Outlook to learn about these presentations instead of attending them? I doubt...
   The same aspect applies when tackling the issue of the interest of students in the country's problems. In the last few weeks, Lebanon has indeed witnessed one of the most agitated periods in the post war era. In three days the Lebanese people engaged in the most immature and irresponsible behavior one could ever think of.  
   On the student level the approach to the political atmosphere was not better.  This is due to the lack of student initiative on the political level.  Most of the students involved in political activity are bound to the decisions taken by their political leaders.  They are not even capable of questioning or revising or criticizing the decisions of their leaders or their parties.  They simply follow orders. 
   What's left of the student political initiative in Lebanon? Where is the heritage of the seventies? Where is the legacy of those who demonstrated in AUB in that period or who pleaded for a better Lebanese University? I think that we, as students, should form our own views of the situation we are facing both in our University and in the country. We, as Lebanese citizens, should have our own approach based on our own perspectives. I am not arguing that we should discard the experience of our predecessors; on the contrary we should learn from it. We are the ones who will suffer if the country goes deeper into this instability. We are the ones leaving the country; we are the ones whose interest is not being pursued and we hold a big responsibility in this fact. Look around you at AUB and at other universities: very few are those who have their own views, even fewer are those who gather and participate in the country's political life.
   We as students are the force of change in this country. If we don't take a political initiative of our own based on our views as citizens, the country will go deeper in the turmoil it has entered.