The American University of Beirut held its 140th Founders Day celebration at noon on December 4, in the presence of a host of political, academic, social and diplomatic figures.

Inaugurated by a procession of professors in their academic robes, the ceremony, which was held in Assembly Hall, brought together MP Ghassan Tueni, former Ministers Karam Karam, Samir Makdisi and Adnan Mroue, Press Federation President Mohammed Baalbaki, former ambassadors Nadim Dimashkiyyeh and Khalil Makkawi as well as several members of AUB's Board of Trustees.

President John Waterbury had words of hope for the future of AUB, saying that despite the challenges the University has faced, it keeps developing and growing stronger. "Every generation has faced its crises, every generation has had its doubts. Yet, it seems to me, the university has always grown in strength and grown in respect," he said. "Doubts may pour down upon us like rain, but AUB like the earth itself absorbs them and produces new fruit."

Waterbury then introduced the winner of this year's student essay contest which was under the theme: "AUB in National and Regional Crises: What is Its Role?"

Sara Mourad, a junior in political studies, won the $500 contest prize, and read her essay to the audience of students, faculty and dignitaries.

Mourad's essay centered on AUB's role as a bridge between the outside world and the sheltered campus life by promoting openness and tolerance and by being interactive not isolationist. Mourad said that the world right now is dominated by two concepts: war and democracy. She added that AUB plays a role in strengthening the latter in order to prevent the former. Indeed, she noted that AUB jumped right into the relief effort during the July War and promotes democratic principles by running transparent and clean student elections.

Following the student essay, keynote speaker Dr Marwan Muasher, a long-time Jordanian diplomat and government official who had filled several senior-ranking positions including deputy-prime minister and minister of foreign affairs, gave a thought-provoking speech on the role the Arab world needs to play in order to ensure that democracy, development and diversity would reign over policies and practices.

Muasher, who studied at AUB from 1972 to 1975, took this university as a role model for Arab nations to follow.

Muasher argued that AUB students did not just get an education, but learned to think critically, accept truths as relative and appreciate the power of diversity. They were also instilled "with a sense of purpose. and an urge to open up to the rest of the world," he added. "That is why AUB represents the best of what America can offer in our region. Contrary to the hostility most Arabs feel towards American policies in the region regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict, AUB is a highly regarded institution in the Arab world by people belonging to the full political, economic and social spectra in our region," he said.

But Dr Muasher criticized the Arab world for not following AUB's example in making moderation, inclusion and respect for diversity their guiding principles. Instead, Arab regimes built educational systems that did not form individual thinkers, teaching children, instead, to "think monolithically, one-dimensionally."

Moreover, Arab governments did not encourage political reform, nor did they allow for the creation of sustainable, democratic political systems. As a result, when the US war on Iraq was launched in 2003, "the destruction of the ancient regime revealed a shocking vacuum of power," attracting religious parties with a strong sectarian following instead and allowing extremist groups, such as Al-Qaeda to find a foothold in Iraq.

Muasher harshly criticized Arab governments for resorting to a series of excuses for postponing political development. In particular, Muasher said that governments have often claimed that democracy should wait till after the Arab-Israeli conflict would be resolved. "This was, essentially, an argument of not being able to walk and chew gum at the same time," said Muasher.

Arab governments would also fight the development of democracy, under the pretext that Islamists would never relinquish power once they reached it through a democratic process, said Muasher, adding: "They ignored the uncomfortable fact, that they, themselves, whether revolutionary or traditional, never allowed the alternation of power once they grabbed it."

Moreover, governments would prioritize economic reform over political reform, he said. "That argument ignored the fact that economic reform was unlikely to successfully take hold in the absence of transparency, accountability and a functioning system of checks and balances," he warned. "To quote the 2004 UNDP Arab Human Development Report, the argument of bread before freedom has practically meant that most Arabs have risked losing out on both."

Absence of political reform and development has resulted in a failure of governments to meet the people's social and political needs, noted Muasher. "Religious parties stepped in to fill the void created by the suppression of national, democratic, non-religious parties, dominating the public sphere alongside Arab governments and complementing the state's role in public services provision," he said, thus constructing a broad and deep support base through their philanthropy and social services. "By the time some Arab regimes began to contemplate reforms in the early 1990s, religious groups had enjoyed a long head start."

As a result, continued Muasher, "the imposed political inertia that was meant to preserve the status quo for the elites at first, and, later, to 'shield' society against radical ideologies produced the opposite: a ruling elite increasingly viewed by the Arab public not as moderate, but as non-accountable, and the ascendancy of religious groups that use Islam for political purposes. Thus, the public grew wary of an elite that ruled without accountability, but was also skeptical of religious groups, some of which promised good governance but also seemed to threaten political and cultural diversity."

Muasher blamed Arab regimes, not Islam, as is often argued, for the lag in democracy, noting that non-Arab Muslim countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia managed to implement democracy. Moreover, the absence of a sound educational system, the residues of anti-democratic colonial policies as well as an economic prosperity that diluted the need for political reform were also to blame, said Muasher. "Because of oil," he said, "[even] the West has regarded stability, not reform, in the Middle East as its number one priority."

Faced with this status quo, Muasher proposed that the Arab world needs "to gradually but seriously open up its political system while continuing to hold elections," while adhering to two principles:

First, Arab political parties should all commit to political and cultural diversity no matter what their political agenda. "Majority rule, but also, minority rights," he said.

Second, all political parties or individuals should also commit to pursuing their objectives through peaceful means, he added. "That means that parties participating in the system cannot also bear arms," he said.

"If these two principles are adhered to in good faith and become part of the national culture, Arabs would take a long stride towards true political development, [that is] the peaceful rotation of power.

Muasher concluded his address by asking whether an Arab political center truly exists and whether it is considered effective by the Arab public, given the failed policies by Arab governments.

While Muasher acknowledged that the Arab political center indeed exists as attested by the role being played by the Jordanian-Saudi-Egyptian troika in post-September 11 peace talks, he said that its credibility is in question. "[But] its major shortcoming is. that this center has focused singularly on the peace process. In short it's a one-issue center," said Muasher. "The Arab public must be convinced that a pro-active, pragmatic Arab discourse is not limited to the peace process but also extends to other concerns of the Arab street: good governance, economic well-being and inclusive decision-making."

As a result, Arab governments have lost credibility among their people when it comes to addressing issues concerning their daily lives, thus leading many Arabs to consider that "the pragmatic positions of the Arab Center as compromising Arab interests in the service of Western powers."

Muasher concluded: "If the Arab Center is to be finally triumphant, and shake the image its opponents try to paint for it as an apologist for the west or a compromiser of Arab rights, it must start planting the seeds for a time when the peace process will end and the challenge of a robust, diverse, tolerant, democratic and prosperous Arab society remains."

December 4, 2006
December 4, 2006, 12:00 noon - Assembly Hall
You are cordially invited to attend Founders' Day Ceremony on Monday, December 4, 2006, 12:00 noon, at Assembly Hall. The Speaker will be Dr. Marwan Muasher. His talk will be entitled "Is There Hope For The Arab Center? "

Dr. Marwan Muasher
Marwan Muasher attended AUB from 1972 to 1976 and earned a PhD in Computer Engineering from Purdue University in 1981. He later held several senior positions in the Jordanian government, including Ambassador, Press Advisor to the Prime Minster, Minister of Information and Government Spokesperson, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chief of Staff for the King, head of the National Agenda Committee and Deputy Prime Minister. He has been a member of the Jordanian Senate since November 2005.

Student Essay Contest
The program of the ceremony will include the announcement of the winner of the Founders' Day Student Essay Contest. The theme of the contest this year is AUB IN NATIONAL AND REGIONAL CRISES: WHAT IS ITS ROLE?