Tala Charif | Staff Writer

Growing up, my mother always encouraged me to pursue the career of my choice, but under one condition: “There is only one university in the world: AUB”. From her countless stories about playing cards on the West Hall steps, to the concerts she played with the Music Club, it was needless to say that I couldn’t wait to become an AUBite. However, going into my fourth semester at AUB, my expectations were shattered as none of my mother’s experiences aligned with mine. Was I doing something wrong? Or did my mother know a different AUB than the one I know today?

Being an AUB student in the 90s was the experience of a lifetime; student life was so rich that I often forget that my mother and her friends actually studied during their university journey. Rules were different back then: smoking was still allowed on campus, in addition to playing cards, which were both essential parts of campus life; “if the no-smoking rule was implemented back then I doubt any of my friends would hang-out that much on campus” explained my mother. In addition, student activities were booming as the students experienced faculty water fights, the Miss AUB pageant, the societies and clubs parade and of course, AUB Outdoors and the AUB Big Games. Some of these events are nonexistent today, but their absence isn’t the only factor that shifted the student life.

When asked to describe her AUB experience in one word, alumnus and current sociology professor Dr. Rana Sukarieh chose “vibrant”. After fifteen years of atrocities due to the civil war and a stolen childhood, AUB students were relieved to experience a close-to-normal life at university. Dr. Rima Akkary, AUB alumnus and current chairperson of the Education department did not relate to that same vibrancy as she experienced AUB during the peak effects of the Civil War on the university throughout the 80s. However, she did find this liveliness when she returned as a faculty member in 2007. According to Dr. Akkary and my mother, AUB experienced its modern golden years between the mid-90s and 2020; enrollment was at its peak, reaching 9000 students in comparison to 3000 during her time there, as well as a boom in student clubs and activities. Dr. Akkary pointed out that this increase in enrollment is mainly due to the increase in financial aid and external scholarship opportunities which shifted the status of AUB from being privileged to more accessible for different socio-economic classes.

When it comes to social life, both professors raised a crucial point: that your social life and university experience as a whole at AUB depended greatly on your faculty – which is still the case today.  Solid friendships were harder to build in FAS for example since you’re exposed to a wide variety of academic backgrounds. In a sociology class, you can have Biology, Geology, Economics and Arabic majors around you while being in a completely different major due to the general electives system. If you’re in OSB or MSFEA, this experience might differ since these faculties are based on this idea of stable cohorts, making it easier to know people from the faculty and build strong relationships with them. 

These drastic changes in the student population and the dynamics between majors and faculties can both be related to a single factor: internal policies at AUB. Back then, West Hall and the Green Oval were the main and only gathering spots on campus, giving the students a chance to socialize in a single area “Everyone knew that you can’t walk past West Hall or the Green Oval if you’re late to class because you’ll spend a minimum of ten minutes greeting everyone you know” Dr. Sukarieh explained. Supporting this claim, Dr. Akkary confessed that her shyness made her dread walking past West Hall “I used to take the long road to get to Nicely and Fisk to avoid getting stares from everyone”. Students reading this would probably not relate to this experience as AUB has distributed different social hubs and lounges across campus, dispersing the energy and “vibrancy” across 250,000 m2 of land instead of a single building. However, the drastic shift in AUB’s student life cannot be related only to AUB; the whole socio-political environment of the country is also a major factor. “When we say that AUB is over 150 years old, we can’t underestimate this fact since these years were rich with history-making events” Dr. Akkary said. Indeed, AUB survived the two world wars, the Lebanese Independence, the Civil War and everything in between. From studying in the dorms’ closets to avoiding getting injured from broken glass during the Civil War, to skipping classes to protest on October 17th 2019, AUB reflected what was happening outside its walls.

In addition to changes in the campus structure and socio-political context, both faculty members tackled another main catalyst of the university’s cultural shift: social media. Back then, AUB was considered a meeting point since it was extremely difficult to talk to your classmates and anyone you met in your courses or clubs outside campus. Today, the opposite is happening where most students are meeting online via WhatsApp groups and finding it hard to establish this face-to-face relationship.

After hearing from these different testimonies, I was reassured that I was not doing anything wrong – the AUB we know is simply different! From structural reforms, to cultural and political shifts, change in the AUB experience was bound to happen. But one thing never changed: the love the alumni has for their university. “It’s part of life when you start loving something when you leave it” explained Dr. Sukarieh, who already loved her alma mater back in the day. Will this alumni effect hit us and make us praise AUB once we graduate? Or will our new experience change how we carry our legacy?