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Spring 2011 Vol. IX, No. 3 No. IX, Vol. 2011 Spring BEIRUT MainGateAmerican University of Beirut Quarterly Magazine Departments: Letters 2 Inside the Gate Views from Campus Tackling neighborhood traffic and pollution; honesty, courage, and 6 imagination: performing Tea with Biscuits in Prison; Ras Beiruti roof gardens; student teaching in Beirut’s schools; FEA final-year architecture projects reimagine the city Reviews Le Hezbollah à Beyrouth (1985-2000): de la banlieue à la ville by Mona Harb (BAR ’93); Horizons 101 by Jala Makhzoumi Beyond Bliss Street Alumni Profile Managing Beirut: FEA Professor and Mayor Bilal Hamad (BE ’76) 46 Legends and Legacies The Principled Polymath: Cornelius Van Alen Van Dyck (1818-95) 49 Reflections Lessons of War: speaking with Rashid Khalidi 50 Alumni Happenings WAAAUB’s Second Regional Meeting; 2011 elections 53 Class Notes Leila Tarazi Fawaz (BA ’67, MA ’68) named director of Harvard University’s 58 Board of Overseers; Bana Hilal (BA ’72) honored with the East-West Bridgebuilder Award; Ziad Mazboudi (BE ’87) receives American Society of Civil Engineers Citizen Engineer Award In Memoriam 67 MainGate is published quarterly in Production American University of Beirut Beirut by the American University of Beirut for distribution to alumni, Office of Communications Office of Communications former faculty, friends, and Randa Zaiter PO Box 11–0236 supporters worldwide. Riad El Solh 1107 2020 Photography Beirut, Lebanon Editor Tel: 961-1-353228 AUB Jafet Library Archives Ada H. Porter Fax: 961-1-363234 Director of Communications Ahmad El Itani Hasan Nisr New York Office 3 Dag Hammarskjold Plaza Responsible Director Nishan Simonian 8th Floor Nabil Dajani New York, NY 10017–2303 Contributing Writers Tel: 212-583-7600 Art Direction and Design Maureen Ali Fax: 212-583-7651 Office of Communications Najib Attieh Susanne Lane Zeina Tawil Sierra Millman [email protected] Printing Tomoko Furukawa Barbara Rosica www.aub.edu.lb Lane Press The Heart of Beirut MainGate Spring 2011 Reaching Out, Taking Back AUBMC residents learn to help those who 26 need it most in Hay el Gharbeh Green Dreams 28 A rallying cry for Beirut’s public spaces Just Imagine 32 Exploring a forgotten corner of Beirut Walking. .and Talking. .Beirut The city’s own Pied Piper tells you its tale 35 Beyond Buildings 42 An uphill fight to save Beirut’s heritage President's view In this issue dedicated to Beirut, As a major urban employer and have so many students and staff who MainGate speaks to President as a center for education and come to campus every day, which is Dorman about the challenges facing research in Beirut, what is AUB’s inevitable. We try to provide as much our neighborhood and AUB’s role in role in confronting some of these parking as we can, but it is woefully making Ras Beirut a healthier and challenges? inadequate. One thing we have done more vibrant place to live. The Neighborhood Initiative is looking is to pull the concrete barriers off the at the flow of traffic and the ques- Corniche that used to block the park- MainGate: What do you see as tion of pedestrian spaces, especially ing lane in front of faculty housing, major challenges confronting spaces that are amenable to young the biology building, and the Hostler Beirut and more specifically Ras kids, to older people, to people who Center. We have been talking to IC Beirut? are impaired in terms of their mobility. and ACS about their traffic patterns Overdevelopment—the unbridled It is looking at ways that traffic can as well. One reason we removed the growth of large apartment buildings be rerouted to keep the flow going, barriers is so the public that do not allow for green spaces. ways to create appropriate desig- could use those The challenge mainly has to do with nated cross walks for safety, and also areas until redeveloping Ras Beirut as a livable pedestrian-friendly roads that link Bliss 2 pm, neighborhood: the preservation of with Hamra, especially with Abdul Aziz historic buildings, historic homes; and Jeanne d’Arc streets. if possible, pedestrian access—the This of course is not something division between pedestrian and AUB can do on its own, so we have vehicle spaces; and parking. On top also been talking with representa- of that, how does AUB interact in a tives from the municipality and with productive and engaging way with the new mayor of Beirut, Bilal the people who live in Ras Beirut, Hamad, who is a member of our and how do we improve that kind engineering faculty. We have of engagement? It is challenging also started touching base with because our immediate neighborhood Ziad Baroud, presently the is very much a commercial district [caretaker] minister of the inte- and it is ephemeral, in the sense that rior. It is a problem on which Bliss Street is not inhabited by busi- you have to rely on multiple nesses where people spend much levels of government, so that time. Just a block or two away you makes it more complex. have restaurants developing where faculty and students go, and you Is there anything that you see them having long lunches, but are doing on campus to most of the shops are either fast deal with traffic congestion, food or produce stores. Apart from parking problems, and those restaurants I mentioned, there pollution? is nowhere that you can see an intel- It’s a systemic problem on lectual community finding a home. campus that has as much Even bookshops on Bliss Street have to do with the lack of proper disappeared over the last couple of public transportation as it has years. The [intellectual] community is to do with individual choices. developing again but further away. It We contribute to con- should be just outside our gates. gestion primarily because we 2 MainGate Spring 2011 | www.aub.edu.lb/maingate President's view after which they would then be used been discussed as a possibility, such What do you think will be AUB’s as bus lanes for the two schools. as some sort of parking arrangement main contribution to Ras Beirut If we go along with the munici- for renting space at the Charles Helou in 2011 and what would you like pality in trying to figure out traffic Bus Station. Students coming from the the contribution to be in the years patterns along Bliss Street, we will be north would drive in, park, and take a ahead? adding pullover areas for taxis on our bus to campus. But when you develop I am hoping that all these initiatives side of Bliss and maybe even pushing that kind of a commuter system, you reaching out into the neighborhood back our boundary wall to provide a need several buses and a frequent will have a positive impact. I hope that little more space for the public. schedule. Then the question arises, do AUB can take the lead working with you operate your own buses or do you the municipality to reconfigure the Would it make sense to look at engage companies, and once you do streets and sidewalks and ultimately the idea of AUB buses coming that there are liability issues in terms of to reintroduce a system of public and going at given insurance. Then, of course, you would transportation simply because it is times? need to have a viable system coming going to improve life uniformly, not This has from the south. So it is very clumsy. In just for us but for everyone who lives actually essence we would be trying to create here. I hope also that building the new our own public transportation system. medical center will have an impact It’s a possibility, but it does not seem to in this respect as well, since we will be very viable in terms of how people have to look at how traffic flows would make use of it and it would add around the medical center. This is a to their commuting times. huge challenge and it is going to be an opportunity for people to take a The demand for properties broader look at how traffic is directed overlooking campus and the through Ras Beirut. sea has led to a develop- ment boom in Ras Beirut You knew Ras Beirut as a young- and dramatically escalating ster. What are your strongest prices. What can AUB do memories of the neighborhood to address this issue that and the relationship between affects the affordability of the University and its environs, housing for faculty mem- between “town” and “gown”? bers, staff, and students? I was at the age when I was not con- We are aware of the problem scious of the town/gown separation. and we are giving it our con- To me they were all just family friends. sideration. We are definitely It seemed to be one large community, looking at places on campus a natural melting pot of many different that would not impinge on peoples and languages. So I am not the central green space but sure I have memories of how AUB that could provide significant as an academic community impinged amounts of new housing, on Ras Beirut and probably that’s a especially for faculty. We’re reflection of how well it did. also looking at spaces where —M.A. we could provide additional student housing. www.aub.edu.lb/maingate | MainGate Spring 2011 3 from/to the editor We often make the distinction that we are the American University of Beirut—and not the American University in Beirut. Why? Because AUB is not just physically located in this city; we are an integral part of the social, economic, and cultural fabric of Beirut, Lebanon, and the region—and have been for a long, long time.