1905-1910

The years between 1905 and 1910 at the Syrian Protestant College were marked by a controversy that would eventually come to shape the future of the institution, and put it on the  path towards a secular education that would form the first milestone for a true liberal arts college, a step that proved crucial for the long term survival and flourishing of the College and the success of its educational mission in the region: with the increasing number of non-Christian students attending the College (Muslims and Jews), some students became more vocally critical of the religious evangelism of the initial curriculum. In 1909, some of the students staged a protest and drafted a petition to the College administration, whereby they refused to comply with the requirements of the College to attend Bible classes and religious exercises. Permission to be exempted from Bible classes was eventually granted for students of different religions in 1915-1916. A life of ethics and public service, and a sense of mission and purposiveness (without being necessarily framed within a religious discourse) imbued the teaching background and outlook of many Faculty members, and it was clear that it also influenced the students' outlook. A quick survey of the titles and content of some of the magazines, displayed here, serves as an account of this influence: The Light; The Life of Service; al-Nahda al Islahiya, in the Syrian Protestant College, The SPC Missionary Review; Al Manarah; Vouloir C'est Pouvoir, etc.