Although I do not agree myself with the selection of one of the honored guests for this year. AUB has been extremely cautious when it comes to relations with Israel over the years. We should thank AUB to sustain a decent position (vis-a-vis the Palestinian cause) at the time where a lot of Arab and Muslim countries are runing toward Israel.
If AUB was dealing differently with the Palestinian cause, it would surely get much more funding from the States.
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Dear Members of the AUB Community,
I would like to share with you a personal note, in view of several
e-mails that have been circulating among the faculty and on the alumni
listserv in the wake of the controversy surrounding the recent honorary
degree ceremony at Commencement. In particular, I want to address the
comments relating to this administration's purported agenda related to
Israel.
The first and paramount observation is that AUB has always respected and
complied with the laws of Lebanon, and always will, particularly the
laws prohibiting the normalization of any kind of relations with Israel.
Indeed, this position has come at a cost to some of our faculty members
in recent years, particularly those who have had to give up significant
funding or research partnerships because of the involvement of
third-party partners who had ties to Israeli institutions.
Second, this administration at AUB has no normalization or Zionist
agenda of any kind. Those who make that claim or imply it are simply
wrong on the facts. But raising questions about AUB's presumed Zionist
leanings is a sensational charge that catches the eye, can spread
quickly, and understandably raises deep alarm among Lebanese and others
who have suffered from Israeli depredations.
The circulating messages entitled "Can AUB Find Only Those Complicit
with Zionism to Honor?"--taken straight from the extremist coverage
published by al-Akhbar newspaper‹is a rhetorical question that belies
our history of honoring distinguished Arabs or friends of the Arab world
such as Edward Said, Helen Thomas, and Hanan Ashrawi. In the last three
years alone, the University has honored Walid Khalidi, Dourade Al
Lahham, Eric Rouleau, Mary Robinson, Marcel Khalife, Owen Gingerich,
Mostafa El-Sayed, Anthony Shadid, Wadad Kadi, and Munib Masri. Eight of
these honorees were nominated by our own faculty.
Some have criticized the administration for awarding an honorary degree
to individuals who do not adhere to the Palestine Academic and Cultural
Boycott of Israel campaign, an initiative intended to isolate Israel
from such contacts. I defend the right of those who take such a
position; it is a principled stance, and one that many feel passionate
about. Yet institutional decisions cannot be subordinated to an absolute
litmus test imposed by the demands of outside groups. Otherwise, to
pick just one example, AUB could never have decided to honor Edward
Said, who initiated an acclaimed cultural dialogue through his highly
visible sponsorship of a Palestinian-Israeli youth orchestra.
I was born in Lebanon in the same year as the nakba; like so many of
you, I have never lived in the world without the dreadful specter of
Palestinian dispossession and an expanding Israeli settlement agenda,
which are deeply immoral and ultimately, in my view, self-destructive.
As for AUB, our campus is a precious and protected space where
differences of opinion do‹and must‹exist in a context of mutual respect.
Free speech is fundamentally a core value of AUB and a part of our long
tradition of academic freedom. We will continue to honor it, for every
voice in our community.
The Provost and I will be meeting this coming week with a delegation of
faculty members, who wish to present their petition of disagreement. The
Board of Trustees has also asked me to review the process of vetting
candidates for honorary degrees. I know the faculty delegation speak for
a good number of you reading this message; but I can assure you that we
jointly have only the reputation and good name of our beloved
institution at heart, alongside a profound commitment to AUB's proud
legacy, our home country, Lebanon, and the region we serve.
Peter Dorman
President
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