Students Turn to Athletics and Social Service, as well as to Politics: Arab Nationalism
An Engaged Community:
"The most striking development of the year was the transfer of student interest from political agitation to social service. ..[when] The disturbances in Palestine quieted down, the violent excitement in both Iraq and Syria gave way to comparative calm, and the students [..] gladly turned their thoughts to useful things and aided their teachers to carry on welfare work."
Considerable sums of money were collected through the Croix Rouge, mostly by means of concerts.
Recreation and Public Service: Fun and Work go Hand in Hand!
Committees of teachers and students encouraged social service and many forms of recreation. Athletics flourished when the new dressing rooms at the foot of the campus were finished, swimming became even more popular than usual. There was an unusually large number of games and excursions, as well as an increased interest in dramatics....
Report of the President of the American University of Beirut for the Seventy-Fourth Year, 1939-1940: P 20-21
A new Bath house is built!
The new building is entirely an A.U.B. product. The idea and general arrangement were conceived by Mr. Tarabulsi, the athletic director. The plans were drawn by Mr. Bahij Khuri, drawing instructor, and the actual construction was done by the Department of Buildings and Grounds. The new bath house was constructed to provide a healthy place for students to change their clothes; to replace the crude arrangement on the rocks which was washed away by a winter storm, and to accommodate the growing number of swimmers.
Al Kulliyah Review , June 1940, v.2, no. 7, p:12
Help extended to Human and Nature Caused Disasters!
The Village Welfare Service is now but one of four sections of the Civic Welfare League of the University, the other departments being the City Welfare Service, the Relief Committee and the Finance Committee. The Relief Committee...contributed more than 100 Syrian pounds for the aid of sufferers in the terrible Turkish earthquake of the winter of 1939-1940."
That They may Have Life; The Story of the American University of Beirut 1866-1941. Published by the Trustees of the American University of Beirut: p 279
Bee-keeping and fruit growing courses
The Institute of Rural Life organized a workshop where Sixty-five fruit-growers representing 45 Lebanese and Syrian villages officially registered at the fourth annual fruit-growing course given at the University by the Institute of Rural Life the last week of January. The group included a woman, an ex-minister of finance ( Shukri Bey Kuwatly of Damascus), among others.
The Institute also offered the annual course on bee-keeping to an enrollment of fifty-one bee-keepers. In follow-up, a bee-keeping syndicate which would promote interest in bee-keeping, protect the sale of honey by checking adulteration, and gain release from the import duty on sugar, was formed.
That They may Have Life; The Story of the American University of Beirut 1866-1941. Published by the Trustees of the American University of Beirut: P 287
Civic Welfare League and Other Initiatives
AUB teachers formed a very successful book cooperative that sells a weekly average of 80 English, 75 Arabic and 10 French books, with sales mostly done by students. Thus, the College Book cooperative is a double success, a proof that students are taking the opportunity to build private libraries and another success for the cooperative movement.
"In cooperation with the Beirut YWCA, and other organizations, additional educational and medical work was done in various parts of the city...The spirit of social service at Beirut declines to be daunted by the shadows of a world at war."
That They may Have Life; The Story of the American University of Beirut 1866-1941. Published by the Trustees of the American University of Beirut: P 281
Ideas and Movements in the Air: student Activism: Arab Nationalism
Students activism continued on campus: the many ideas sweeping the region, from Arab Nationalism, to Lebanese Independence, to regional unity were actively and heatedly debated on campus. The University was a true incubator for ideas and movements that were about to leave their deep impact on the region, and shape its course.