By Mohamad El Sahily | Staff Writer
In a surprise decision, LAU president Michel Mouawad decided to cut the university’s ties with the prominent Center for Lebanese Studies. This came in response to a report by the Center that decried the racist intonations of educational policies by the Ministry of Education against Syrian refugees after the ministry canceled their afternoon classes. This incident sets a very dangerous and severe precedent against academic freedoms, signaling a clear line for politicians that they can intimidate academics and centers into silence regarding the crisis and its effects.
The Ministry of Education, as part of the government’s efforts to “encourage” the “voluntary return” of Syrian refugees, has decided to end the mandated afternoon classes of Syrian refugee children in public schools. These classes have existed for a long time as the influx of Syrian refugees increased due to the destructive war. As part of an UN-funded campaign, the ministry mandated afternoon classes for refugee children, which is their natural right. These classes were instrumental in educating a generation of children traumatized by war and displacement, which in turn cut their education and future short.
The decision raises questions regarding the university’s exposure to pressure from the Minister of Education, especially since the Ministry of Education has no legal authority over private universities. In a statement it issued, the center announced its “commitment to continue conducting research that can help the education sector in Lebanon, a sector that is suffering from one of the worst crises in its history while it represents the backbone of Lebanon’s future. As researchers and educators, it is our duty to provide independent and evidence-based research, which when placed in safe hands can be used as a basis for policymaking rather than suppressing it, in addition to working to restore the health of the education sector and make education accessible to all people residing in Lebanon”.
LAU president Michel Mouawad issued a statement, in which he claimed that “the Center unilaterally issued a comment on a sensitive subject related to the education of Syrian students in Lebanon and the role of the Ministry of Education in this matter, without the author of the statement bothering to communicate with the university administration and informing them of the content of the statement, or merely asking their opinion on this sensitive subject and what it might entail. This led to the involvement of the university and what it represents in a topic that does not fall within the scope of its work. However, the director of CLS, Maha Shuaib, indicated that the center used over the five years the joint logo with the university, which was designed by the university itself, and the latter had never objected to any statement or study attached to it. She pointed out that the president of the university was the only one to take the decision to end the partnership, which violates the agreement, as it requires a written warning and a 30-day period before the decision is made. She explained that the dissolution of the partnership would result in a loss for the university before the center, especially since the center had its own independent headquarters in the last two years, as it used the university offices in earlier years.