Classes Resume: 'Attendance is remarkably high'

Students reunite near the Main Gate

Classes and academic programs resumed May 19 after the recent clashes that forced the interruption of the spring semester, which will nevertheless end on time.

Students filled the campus and attendance was "remarkably high," according to Dean of Student Affairs Maroun Kisirwani. Lectures and conferences also resumed, although student activities, including Outdoors and the Folk Dance Festival, were canceled.

Nearly 300 Arab, non-Lebanese students from Jordan, the Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia were evacuated, but many have been expressing interest in returning. Other foreign students, including Europeans and Americans, stayed on.

"We are receiving encouraging emails from our Arab students, saying they want to come back but are still working out travel arrangements," said Kisirwani.

"The prevailing climate is very friendly and pleasant. I have never seen as many students hugging, kissing, and embracing each other as I have today," he said. "Our students are showing high degrees of responsibility and their main concern is to complete their academic studies on time."

In a letter to the AUB community on May 16, President John Waterbury welcomed back students, faculty, and staff, reassuring them that the semester will end on time on June 17 and commencement exercises will still be held as scheduled on June 28. He urged the students to keep upholding the University's values of tolerance for others and to continue behaving in the "exemplary fashion" they have been known for during strained political times.