The Story of a National Institution Edited by Ida Audeh
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Birzeit University: The Story of a National Institution Edited by Ida Audeh Birzeit University: The Story of a National Institution Editor: Ida Audeh All rights reserved. Published 2010 Birzeit University Publications Birzeit University: The Story of a National University Editor: Ida Audeh Arabic translation: Jumana Kayyali Abbas Photograph coordinator: Yasser Darwish Design: Palitra Design Photographs: Birzeit University archives; Institute of Community and Public Health archives Printing: Studio Alpha ISBN 978-9950-316-51-5 Printed in Palestine, 2010 Office of Public Relations P.O. Box 14 Birzeit, Palestine Tel.: + 97022982059 Fax: +97022982059 Email: [email protected] www.birzeit.edu Contents Foreword Chapter 4. An Academic Biography Nabeel Kassis ............................................................................................... VII Sami Sayrafi ...................................................................................................35 Exploring the Palestinian Landscape, by Kamal Abdulfattah ................... 40 Preface “The Past Is in the Present”: Archeology at Birzeit, by Lois Glock ........... 40 Hanna Nasir ..................................................................................................IX My Birzeit University Days, 1983-85, by Thomas M. Ricks ...................... 42 Acknowledgments .........................................................................................XI Chapter 5. Graduate Studies at Birzeit George Giacaman .........................................................................................45 Chronology ................................................................................................. XII Profiles of Selected Graduate Programs .................................................... 48 PART 1. FROM ELEMentarY SCHOOL TO UNIVERSITY PART 2. CHALLENGES AND RESPONSES Chapter 1. Beginnings: Sowing the Seeds Chapter 6. Running a University under Israeli Military Occupation Rima Tarazi and Samia Khoury ...................................................................3 Gabi Baramki ................................................................................................53 Remembering the Early Years: Administrative Detention and Deportation: Siham Shawa Nusseibeh ............................................................................ 11 One Faculty Member’s Ordeal, by Tayseer Arouri .................................... 56 Amy Aranki ................................................................................................. 12 Remembering the Early Days of the Occupation, by Isa Masrieh ........... 59 Hafeez Musa Ghannam ............................................................................. 12 When the Pursuit of an Education Is an Illegal Activity, Huda Farraj ................................................................................................ 12 by Jihad Mas’oud ....................................................................................... 59 Samira Ghandour Haddad ........................................................................ 13 Qasr al-Hamra, by Khalid Farraj ................................................................ 59 Edward Karkar ............................................................................................ 13 The Art of Waiting: Birzeit’s Prisoners Committee in the 1980s, by Penny Johnson ............................................. 60 Chapter 2. From Vision to Reality: Developing the Junior College Campus Means Camp for Us!, by Ibtisam Barakat ................................... 61 Gabi Baramki, Samia Khoury, and Rima Tarazi .....................................15 Events of December 4, 1986, by Mohammad Abu-Orf ............................ 62 Pilgrimage to Sheikh Qatrawani, by Salim Tamari ................................... 20 Teaching at Birzeit College in the 1950s, by Sami Atallah ....................... 22 Chapter 7. Fundraising for a New Campus My Home Away from Home, by Firyal Irshaid ......................................... 22 Hanna Nasir ..................................................................................................65 A Student in the Late Sixties, by Albert Aghazarian ................................. 23 Chapter 8. Birzeit and the International Community Chapter 3. Navigating Uncharted Waters: From College to University Roger Heacock ...............................................................................................73 Ramzi Rihan ..................................................................................................25 Early Supporters, by Albert Aghazarian ..................................................... 78 The First Graduation Ceremony, by Samia Khoury ................................ 26 A Society Making Its Own Destiny, by Mahmoud Ibrahim ..................... 79 Securing Accreditation, by Hanna Nasir ................................................... 30 Friends of Birzeit in Britain: A Personal Memoir, The Intimate Relationship between Birzeit and Its Larger Context, by Duncan Macpherson ............................................................................ 81 by Munir Fasheh ........................................................................................ 31 Chapter 9. Snapshots of the Student Movement Ghassan Khatib .............................................................................................83 Birzeit in the Late 1970s, by Hasan Shtaiwi .............................................. 88 What Birzeit Represents, by Bassam Salhi ................................................ 89 Birzeit University, a Microcosm of the Palestinian People, by Marwan Barghouti ................................................................................ 89 Chapter 10. The Road Ahead Ramzi Rihan ..................................................................................................91 PART 3. OutreacH Chapter 11. Community and Public Health Rita Giacaman ........................................................................................... 101 Chapter 12. A Vibrant Breeze of Living Culture Vera Tamari ................................................................................................. 107 Making Art, by Samia Halaby ................................................................... 113 Chapter 13. Community-Oriented Programs and Initiatives ........ 115 Institutes and Centers .............................................................................. 116 The Research Center, by Khalil Mahshi ................................................. 118 The Literacy and Adult Education Program, by Hiyam Abu Ghazaleh ......................................................................... 119 Voluntary Work Program, by Khalid Farraj ............................................. 120 Al-Hal, by Aref Hijjawi ............................................................................. 120 Right to Education Campaign, by Anan Quzmar ................................... 121 Chapter 14. Making a Difference Nabeel Kassis .............................................................................................. 123 Mahmoud Darwish, Excerpt from His Speech upon Receipt of an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Birzeit University, July 7, 1996 .......... 128 Sources and Credits ................................................................................. 130 Contributors .............................................................................................. 133 Foreword In 2004, when I became president of Birzeit University, I noticed that but it was not forgotten. Although the book was no longer linked to an there was no book that would acquaint visiting guests and dignitaries— anniversary, writing it was no less urgent in my mind; in the absence of state presidents, ministers, prominent scientists, business people, written documentation, we would have to rely on participant memories representatives of donor agencies, and so on—with the University’s for the early years, which tend to fade over time. In 2009 I decided to give mission and eighty-year history. Established in 1924 as a school for the project another push. At about the same time, I ran into Ida Audeh, girls in a small village, Birzeit School evolved over the years to become who was visiting from the United States. She is an editor who attended the first Palestinian university and the foremost institution for higher Birzeit briefly in the mid-seventies and who knew many of the proposed education in Palestine. My appointment as president when founding contributors. I approached her to edit the book and to fuel the process president Hanna Nasir stepped down from that position marked the for its writing. I gave her the original outline, explained the idea, and beginning of a change in the top leadership; this would be the first time asked her to work with the contributors and to edit the final manuscript; that the institution would be led by someone who was not a member she liked the proposal and started working on it. The authors would be of the founding family. It seemed like an opportune time to begin to given the choice to write in either language, and the book would be record the story of the University, a process that would necessarily published in both English and Arabic. Ida contacted the prospective draw heavily on the experiences (and memories) of staff and alumni authors and, insistent as she is, they were more responsive this time. But because written documentation by key players in the early