From the Editors

Dear MainGate readers,

We’re delighted to present this fall issue of The MainGate—a reflection on the many facets of the AUB community. As befits these straitened times, we are publishing in a smaller more economical format for this and near-future editions, but we hope our far-flung readers will also find their way to the digital edition of MainGate when we launch our new platform in the spring.

In reading these pages about the complexity of AUB life, you will find both the difficult and the sublime, a deep dive into the Lebanese currency crisis and the exuberant opening days on campus with students once again filling the pathways and robed graduates celebrating their delayed and much yearned for commencements. You’ll go back in time with the Lebanese cedars and Arabic calligraphy as well as see the recent appointment of AUB’s first female vice president for administration and the herculean effort that has brought the COVID-19 vaccine to almost 100 percent of the community.

With this issue we say goodbye to executive editor, Martin Asser, who was first introduced to the magazine after seeing it on his in-laws’ coffee table in London many years ago, and who went on to oversee its publication from 2015-2021. We will miss his gift for storytelling and his delight over unearthing a particularly rich aspect of university life, and we thank him for his elegance in editing.
At this time, what MainGate reflects most is endurance and hope, the very fiber of AUB.

With gratitude,
The editors