1992-2015 B
The 1st Beirut International Tango Festival kicked-off on the afternoon of Thursday April 23, 2009 with a free outdoor performance at the AUB Main Gate plaza. The Beirut International Tango Festival at the American University of Beirut was a first-time university initiative by its Continuing Education Center (CEC). Throughout the festival, world-renowned musicians and performers of Argentinean Tango performed shows and lead instructional workshops and master-classes for participants of all levels.
The first FEA Student Conference was launched in June 2002. It included two full days of activities, presentations, speeches, and receptions. One of the most popular events to take place in front of the Main Gate was the launching of the Human-Powered Vehicle Competition. Vehicles built by the students—designed in accordance with specific criteria such as efficiency, sturdiness, biomechanics, ergonomics, and weight—were raced full-tilt over an ad hoc track consisting of the pathways surrounding College Hall and Jafet Memorial Library.
American University of Beirut. (Summer/Fall 2003). Main gate: American University of Beirut quarterly magazine. Beirut, Lebanon: American University of Beirut, Office of Information and Public Relations, v. 1, no.4, p:6.
2014 witnessed a series of events and protests:
"[Students] staged a sit-in at the university campus, demanding the annulment of the 6% increase on tuition fees. Demonstrating students of the various political and party spectrum indicated in a statement that they put forward to the university administration a number of demands, notably the necessity that the university commit to the previously set fees and the adoption of transparency between the administration and students. The statement added that the demonstrating students gave 48-hour deadline for the administration to take the necessary measures to stop such a decision; otherwise, they shall adopt further escalatory steps, including an open sit-in."
As the American University of Beirut approaches its 150th anniversary and through a generous donation from Mr. Karam G. Tannous Doumet (BBA 1978, MBA 1980) the Main Gate was renovated in summer 2015 to be ready for the AUB sesquicentennial festivities..