LAU Tribune - Issue 1

12
Continued on page 10 RIBUNE THE OFFICIAL STUDENT NEWSPAPER AT THE LEBANESE AMERICAN UNIVERSTY YEAR XIV, VOL. 3, NO. I MONDAY, OCT.31, 2011 T [email protected] SPORTS PEOPLE PAGE 4 PAGE 6 PAGE 3 New Ban With No Plan By Ranim Hadid LAU Tribune staff Photo by: Ahmad Yassine LAU, AUB disagree Brian Prescott Juve To Contend Disregard for the Disabled By Rouba Jaafar LAU Tribune staff Trying not to step on the nu- merous cigarette buds on the floor, Iman Soufan, an LAU journalism student, strug- gled between the crowds of people as she reached the upper gate. She rushed through the herds to make it on time to her next class. Holding her hair back as if to shield it from the smell of smoke, she pushed her way into the gate’s single narrow door. “I feel like I’m fighting to get to class,” Soufan said. Ever since the ban on smok- ing went into effect at the beginning of the semester, students have not stopped complaining about the large huddle of people on the up- per gate. As a non-smoker, Soufan couldn’t have been happi- er with the decision to ban smoking on campus. But as the days passed and the crowd got bigger, the young girl began to worry about the outcome of this decision. “I’m just annoyed that this is what it’s going to take for me to be on time,” she contin- ued. The crowd at the upper gate has created an ongoing bat- tle for students and facul- ty who step outside between classes. A solution, according to Dean of Students Raed Mohsen, has been the recent opening of the big gates. “At the peak of rush hour, the guards open the big gates for those who are leaving cam- pus,” Mohsen said. Admitting that this was only a short-term solution, Mohsen revealed he has fu- ture plans to reduce traffic at the gates. “In the long term, we are planning to build a small gate that is just like the one on the right to be put on the left side of the gate,” he said. The traffic on the upper gate has not only created chaos; students are in danger of be- ing overrun by the cars that pass on the road between the gates and Malik’s Bookshop. As students rushed into their classes, quickly climb- ing the stairs of Nicol Hall, Sabah Haidar, a senior so- cial work student at LAU, remained passive. She closed her eyes, sighing in pain, and let the two young men from the Civil Defense carry her wheelchair up the narrow stairway. A 50-year-old grandmother, Haidar fell down in October and broke the neck of her fe- mur –a fracture that forced orthopedic surgeons to re- place the broken part of the bone with a metal implant. Although Haidar received medical advice to rest for three months, she insisted to attend classes regularly. But the Nicol Hall elevator has been out of service for three months. The old build- ing, which served once as a dormitory for young wom- en, includes no other way to reach the first, second and third floors except the stair- ways –a reality that makes the building inaccessible for students with disabilities. Haidar is taking three class- es at Nicol Hall this fall: Human rights and envi- ronmental sciences on Mon- days, Wednesdays and Fri- days and cultural studies on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Haidar said she offered to fix the elevator at her own ex- pense but LAU was not coop- erative. Haidar discussed the prob- lem with Dean of Student Affairs Raed Mohsen. “He helped me get permission to let the Civil Defense mem- bers take me up the stairs,” she said. Today, Haidar pays 50 dol- lars per day to be able to circulate around campus and attend classes regu- larly. Extending over three months, the Civil Defense fee amounts to a staggering 3000 US dollars. But money is not Haidar’s main concern. What both- ers her is the pain and hu- miliation she faces as she is carried to class. “This is tor- ture,” Haidar complained. “This is inhuman.” When I asked Mohsen about the Nicol Hall elevator, he suggested I should vis- it the operations office for help. “The elevator must be changed, it cannot be fixed anymore,” he said. I immediately sent an email to the office in question but did not get a reply. I went in person to meet the su- pervisor but employees at the office refused to tell me his name and asked me to send another email. I did. I’ve been checking my inbox since, but have gotten no re- ply. Nour Zein, a communica- tion arts junior at LAU, was climbing up the Nicol Hall stairway when a student with a broken leg lost his balance in front of him. “If I hadn’t been there to catch him, he would have fallen down the stairs,” Zein said. “It is just unacceptable.” Fawzi Khoury, an LAU phi- losophy professor whose of- fice is in Nicol Hall, said that people have the right to use the elevator when their classrooms and offices are three-storey high. “Faculty and staff who are old should have an elevator with access to all floors,” he said. “Why is it taking so long? And why isn’t it being fixed? We just don’t understand.” Laila Ghorayeb, the senior executive assistant of the school of arts and sciences, believes that walking up the stairs can be healthy but an option should be provided for people with disabilities. “I avoid leaving the build- ing because of the elevator,” Ghorayeb, whose office is on the third floor of Nicol Hall, said. “I only use the stairs when I come to work and when I leave.” Ghorayeb explained that she CAMPUS LIFE PAGE 12 Japanese Please Save Yana Yana Harb is a 10-year-old girl in need for liver transplant. Her body cannot digest protein. Her con- dition has deteriorated acutely and her liver is irreversibly damaged. We are now appealing for basic human instincts of care and compassion. Yana’s family and friends are launching an elec- tronic campaign under the name “Save Yana” www.saveyana.com continued on page 10 OFF CAMPUS

Transcript of LAU Tribune - Issue 1

Page 1: LAU Tribune - Issue 1

Continued on page 10

RIBUNE The Official STudenT newSpaper aT The lebaneSe american univerSTy

year Xiv, vOl. 3, nO. i Monday, oct.31, 2011

[email protected]

SpOrTS peOple

page 4 page 6page 3

New Ban With No PlanBy Ranim HadidLAU Tribune staff

Photo by: Ahmad Yassine

LAU, AUB disagree Brian PrescottJuve To Contend

Disregard for the Disabled By Rouba JaafarLAU Tribune staff

Trying not to step on the nu-merous cigarette buds on the floor, Iman Soufan, an LAU journalism student, strug-gled between the crowds of people as she reached the upper gate. She rushed through the herds to make it on time to her next class. Holding her hair back as if to shield it from the smell of smoke, she pushed her way into the gate’s single narrow door.“I feel like I’m fighting to get to class,” Soufan said. Ever since the ban on smok-ing went into effect at the beginning of the semester, students have not stopped complaining about the large huddle of people on the up-per gate. As a non-smoker, Soufan couldn’t have been happi-er with the decision to ban smoking on campus. But as the days passed and the crowd got bigger, the young girl began to worry about the outcome of this decision. “I’m just annoyed that this is what it’s going to take for

me to be on time,” she contin-ued. The crowd at the upper gate has created an ongoing bat-tle for students and facul-ty who step outside between classes. A solution, according to Dean of Students Raed Mohsen, has been the recent opening of the big gates. “At the peak of rush hour, the guards open the big gates for those who are leaving cam-pus,” Mohsen said. Admitting that this was only a short-term solution, Mohsen revealed he has fu-ture plans to reduce traffic at the gates. “In the long term, we are planning to build a small gate that is just like the one on the right to be put on the left side of the gate,” he said.The traffic on the upper gate has not only created chaos; students are in danger of be-ing overrun by the cars that pass on the road between the gates and Malik’s Bookshop.

As students rushed into their classes, quickly climb-ing the stairs of Nicol Hall, Sabah Haidar, a senior so-cial work student at LAU, remained passive. She closed her eyes, sighing in pain, and let the two young men from the Civil Defense carry her wheelchair up the narrow stairway. A 50-year-old grandmother, Haidar fell down in October and broke the neck of her fe-mur –a fracture that forced orthopedic surgeons to re-place the broken part of the bone with a metal implant. Although Haidar received medical advice to rest for three months, she insisted to attend classes regularly. But the Nicol Hall elevator has been out of service for three months. The old build-ing, which served once as a dormitory for young wom-en, includes no other way to reach the first, second and third floors except the stair-ways –a reality that makes the building inaccessible for students with disabilities.Haidar is taking three class-es at Nicol Hall this fall: Human rights and envi-ronmental sciences on Mon-days, Wednesdays and Fri-days and cultural studies on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Haidar said she offered to fix the elevator at her own ex-pense but LAU was not coop-erative. Haidar discussed the prob-lem with Dean of Student Affairs Raed Mohsen. “He helped me get permission to let the Civil Defense mem-bers take me up the stairs,” she said.

Today, Haidar pays 50 dol-lars per day to be able to circulate around campus and attend classes regu-larly. Extending over three months, the Civil Defense fee amounts to a staggering 3000 US dollars.But money is not Haidar’s main concern. What both-ers her is the pain and hu-miliation she faces as she is carried to class. “This is tor-ture,” Haidar complained. “This is inhuman.”When I asked Mohsen about the Nicol Hall elevator, he suggested I should vis-it the operations office for help. “The elevator must be changed, it cannot be fixed anymore,” he said. I immediately sent an email to the office in question but did not get a reply. I went in person to meet the su-pervisor but employees at the office refused to tell me his name and asked me to send another email. I did. I’ve been checking my inbox since, but have gotten no re-ply.Nour Zein, a communica-tion arts junior at LAU, was climbing up the Nicol Hall

stairway when a student with a broken leg lost his balance in front of him. “If I hadn’t been there to catch him, he would have fallen down the stairs,” Zein said. “It is just unacceptable.”Fawzi Khoury, an LAU phi-losophy professor whose of-fice is in Nicol Hall, said that people have the right to use the elevator when their classrooms and offices are three-storey high. “Faculty and staff who are old should have an elevator with access to all floors,” he said. “Why is it taking so long? And why isn’t it being fixed? We just don’t understand.”Laila Ghorayeb, the senior executive assistant of the school of arts and sciences, believes that walking up the stairs can be healthy but an option should be provided for people with disabilities.“I avoid leaving the build-ing because of the elevator,” Ghorayeb, whose office is on the third floor of Nicol Hall, said. “I only use the stairs when I come to work and when I leave.”Ghorayeb explained that she

campuS life

page 12Japanese Please

Save Yana Yana Harb is a 10-year-old girl in need for liver transplant.

Her body cannot digest protein. Her con-dition has deteriorated acutely and her liver is irreversibly damaged.

We are now appealing for basic human instincts of care and compassion. Yana’s family and friends are launching an elec-tronic campaign under the name “Save Yana”

www.saveyana.com

continued on page 10

Off campuS

Page 2: LAU Tribune - Issue 1

CAMPUS NEWS2 tribune oct. 31, 2011

Journalism Students Go Global

The New Deans of LAU By Natalia ElmaniLAU Tribune staff

Vahid Behmardi, chair of the humanities department, re-vealed to the LAU Tribune that the Ministry of Educa-tion’s approval is the last stumbling block ahead of the announcement of new under-graduate Arabic and transla-tion programs at LAU.The news comes after years of lobbying by Arabic instruc-tors and enthusiasts at the university. Despite the many Arabic courses it boasts, in-cluding ancient Arabic lit-erature, Arabic rhetoric and others, LAU only offers a mi-nor in Arabic language and literature.The approval of the Educa-tion Ministry will help fill that gap.But LAU’s step remains a modest one as other ma-jor universities already of-fer comprehensive curricula in Arabic language and lit-erature ranging from under-graduate studies to a doctor-al program. Behmardi, Ph.D. in Arabic language and literature, still believes that the universi-ty’s belated-but-bold move is a promising sign for the fu-ture. He also hopes that, hav-ing developed a “progressive” program, LAU would be able to compete with its national competitors. “This was a challenge for the committee which was in charge of preparing the B.A. program. We don’t want a

By Lyn Abu-SerajLAU Tribune staff

UPIU, a social networking and mentoring site for jour-nalism students worldwide, hosted a three-day work-shop via Skype at LAU’s com-munication arts department last week. UPIU works on publishing stories through social book-marking and sharing sites such as Facebook, Google, Yahoo Buzz and more. Every article written and published through UPIU is shared worldwide for others to read. Phil Rees, a veteran English journalist and a UPIU men-tor, met with students via Skype and explained how this opportunity will give journalists-to-be wider expo-sure. “Lebanon is so interest-ing and full of stories and I am sure you will find many things to talk about,” he ex-plained.Enthusiastic journalism stu-dents pitched story ideas to Rees about local issues they would like to cover. Because articles will be directed to a global audience, Rees ex-plained, the stories must be at a human interest level. “I would like to write about refugee camps in Lebanon,” Ranim Hadid, a communica-tion arts student, said. “Dur-ing my three years in Leb-anon, I have visited many

refugee camps and I have al-ways noticed how children do not have specific areas to play in.”Hadid’s major concern is children playing around con-struction sites and the risks such “playgrounds” may en-tail. UPIU expects specific cri-teria to publish stories. The pieces must be newsworthy, fair, and must meet basic journalistic standards. The best stories students write may get published on UPI’s website, which serves over 2.8 million unique visitors every month.Yasmine Dabbous, assis-tant professor of journalism and media studies, as well as Rees himself, will make sure students meet the criteria. Natalia Elmani, an LAU journalism senior, told Rees she is interested in writing about the immense gap be-tween the rich and the poor in Lebanon.The UPIU program cur-rently exists in English and Spanish, with plans to devel-op platforms in French, Ar-abic, Chinese, Korean and Japanese.UPIU supports all types of writings and topics. They publish stories on health, en-vironment, business, sports, human rights, science and technology and politics.

A Major Step For ArabicBy Zahi SahliLAU Tribune staff

duplicate for the B.A. pro-grams,” Behmardi said. “We have many courses offered in our program which doesn’t exist in the B.A. of Arabic at AUB, for example.” The proposed curriculum includes four courses that Behmardi believes are exclu-sive to LAU; Arabic philolo-gy and lexicography, creative writing, technical Arabic and travel literature.And in hope to enhance LAU’s chances of catching up with competitors, at least in terms of popularity, the university may offer schol-arships to outstanding stu-dents. “This program requires pro-motion and finding some funding to offer scholarships to outstanding students who might be interested in study-ing Arabic literature,” Behm-ardi said, while admitting the department does not ex-pect instant success.The chair’s low expectations emanates from the fact that

very few students enrolled in the recently-initiated un-dergraduates in history and philosophy. While the latter currently has two enrolled students, the former did not attract any.But an immediate effect of the comprehensive Arabic curriculum is that it would allow students from different majors to register for elective courses from a widened vari-ety of options.“As of next year, when the program becomes active, the old Arabic course offering will be canceled and replaced by the detailed curriculum,” Behmardi said. “All students will have a greater variety of Arabic courses.”He added that the humani-ties department is set to add graduate programs in five different majors in the near future. “We are working on a mas-ter’s in English literature, a master’s in Arabic language and literature as well as mas-ter’s in the other three new B.A. programs [history, phi-losophy and translation],” Behmardi said. “The human-ities M.A. programs usually attract more students than in B.A. because we can offer graduate assistantship.” Currently, the department is eagerly anticipating the Min-istry of Education’s approval of B.A. programs in both Ara-bic and translation.

The Lebanese American Uni-versity appointed Philippe M. Frossard as dean of the school of arts and sciences and Said Elfakhani as dean of the business school, for both the Beirut and Byblos campuses. Frossard has 29 years of ex-perience in education and research across numerous countries ranging from the

USA to Japan, as well as ex-pertise in bio-medical studies and higher education. He re-ceived his B.S., M.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. in physical chem-istry and molecular biolo-gy, all with honors, from the University of Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France. He has written seven books and 200 publications, and holds four US and world pat-

ents.The opportunity for the job was introduced to Frossard by colleagues outside of LAU. “Apart from LAU’s reputa-tion and outstanding vision, it’s really the people I met,” Frossard said. “I met moti-vated and dedicated profes-sionals in all fields and be-yond. I really enjoyed my interaction with them.”

Elfakhani carries 27 years of full-time teaching experi-ence from various countries ranging from Canada to Sau-di Arabia and has present-ed 23 workshops for manag-ers and executives across the Middle East. He received his B.A. in business administra-tion from the Lebanese Uni-versity, M.B.A. from the Uni-versity of Texas at Arlington

and M.S. and Ph.D. in fi-nance from the University of Texas, Dallas. Prior to his appointment at LAU, Elfakhani was the as-sociate dean of the Suliman S. Olayan school of business at the American Universi-ty of Beirut, and is currently a member in the Saskatoon

continued on page 10

Photo by: Ahmad Yassine

Page 3: LAU Tribune - Issue 1

3

SPORTStribune oct.31, 2011

Juventus Can Contend By Zahi SahliLAU Tribune staff

Cedars Play the Field

His legs shivered as he walked down the stairs lead-ing to the court. It was time for him to kick that ball and win himself the tickets. Spec-tators at the Tripoli stadi-um were given the chance to win two free tickets to their chosen destinations as they watched the game that brought Lebanon’s Cedars one step closer to the Rugby 2013 World Cup. The free tickets, offered by the federation with the spon-sorship of Etihad Airways, certainly encouraged Leb-anese rugby fans to go and watch the game. But so did the prospects of seeing Leba-non qualify to the upcoming World Cup.A goal is to football what a try and conversion are to rugby. And Lebanon’s Cedars team scored 96 of those as opposed to 4 for the Serbs. As I watched those buffed-up men running around the field, I couldn’t stop myself from wondering about where the Lebanese national team got its name.Apparently, it goes back to the fact that the cedar is the symbol of Lebanon, as is clearly reflected on the flag. But what’s funny about it is that the team in question is mostly composed of players of Australian origins. The presence of those Aus-tralians as well as the half-breeds was nothing if not an advantage for the Lebanese team. “Our Australians have had a huge influence on our national team,” Raymond Safi, Cedars’ manager and

By Maria FellasLAU Tribune staff

co-coach, said. “Having them play for us has helped the sport develop, with the train-ing our players get along with the elites from Sydney.”This Australian contribution does not in any way take the credit away from the Leba-nese players, who, through intensive training, have ac-quired impressive skills. As proof, this is not the first time Lebanon competes in the qualifications. The team even made it to the World Cup back in 2000.If the team does make it to the World Cup, this means benefit not only to the play-ers or the federation, but also to the sport in general and to Lebanon as a country. Rugby wasn’t always famous in the region. What we have now is somewhat of a new trend. Today, Lebanon’s Ce-dars are ranked number one in the MENA region and number five in the European Rugby League Federation. After their triumph over Ser-bia, the Cedars faced Russia with the same valiance, scor-ing 32 to 0. Sami Garabedian, Secretary General of the Leb-anese Rugby League Feder-ation, had expected it would be a piece of cake. One game to go before the team’s fate is decided. The last crucial match, which can mean a make or break for the Lebanese national team, will be held on the October 29, af-ter this paper goes to publi-cation. Did the team win and make it to the 2013 World Cup? You must have the an-swer by now.

Juventus president Andrea Agnelli’s announcement that club legend Alessandro Del Piero will not be offered a new contract at the end of the season was shocking. The timing of the announce-ment, just when the team spirit is thought to be high, is catastrophic. Regardless if Del Piero had plans to retire or not, the Ju-ventus board must learn to treat their players fairly if they are to be considered among the European elite once again. An ideal example of a club that knows how to treat their legends is Manchester Unit-ed. Although Paul Scho-les had been relegated to the bench for most parts of last season, no United board member suggested that the player will be released. Scholes left on a high note, having won the Premier League title and contribut-ing a respectable part in his team’s journey to the Cham-pions League final. Most im-portantly, Scholes was given the role of “deciding his fu-ture” –at least in the media. That said, Juventus should have allowed Del Piero to de-cide his own future in a spe-cial press conference. Even if Del Piero was unwanted, his 18-year-long service at the club still merits a bow.On a more positive note, Ju-ventus’ current crop has started to show promise.And while club manager An-tonio Conte has dismissed speculation that his team is ready to mount a serious

challenge for the Serie A ti-tle, there is no hiding from the fact that fans expect a ti-tle bid. Having moved into their new stadium –the first ever club-owned stadium in Italy– Ju-ventus can now enjoy the backing of up to 41,000 seat-ed fans. The stadium’s construction had imposed a cloud over the club’s finances. This sum-mer, however, the finan-cial constraint was cleared, a fact that paved the way for heavy spending in the trans-fer market. Juve ’s signing of Stephan Lichsteiner will help put an end to their leaky defensive performances after Marco Motta and Zdenek Grygera endured woeful spells last season as rotating right-backs. However, Andrea Pirlo argu-ably stands out as the club’s best summer signing. His passing abilities and eagle vision have given Juve the boost of quality they require to improve their game.Since he joined the Old Lady for free, I may be writing about the bargain buy of the decade. Pirlo’s signing has also given Juventus a tacti-cal flexibility which manag-er Antonio Conte has used on numerous occasions to shuffle his pack. The Italian World Cup winner’s abili-ty to play at both center mid-field and defensive midfield means that Juventus can easily shift from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3. Available at Conte’s dis-posal are skillful wingers

who thrive in 4-3-3 and oth-er hardworking wingers who can shine in 4-4-2.The main reason that Juven-tus may have a refreshing campaign, though, is the vul-nerability of their title rivals. The champions, Milan, have missed Pirlo this campaign, starting their season with a below-par run of form, de-spite that their form has been a blessing in compari-son with their neighboring rivals, Inter Milan, who have already sacked a manager and continue to look vulner-able. With both Milan clubs struggling, this is a chance for Juventus to bounce back after seeing their rivals con-quer the league in the previ-ous seasons. Considering that Roma is in a transitional phase and their manager’s long-term ideas are yet to blossom while Na-poli is busy playing fatiguing Champions League fixtures, Juventus needs to seize their opportunity. Although the Juventus hi-erarchy is yet to build the world-class team which they once had, they will undoubt-edly improve having injected fresh blood into their roster.If Juventus can stay away from dropping points against weaker sides in Serie A, may-be add a decent center-back to pair him with the consis-tent Giorgio Chiellini, and if Agnelli’s imprudent an-nouncement was not the opening of other disruptive episodes, then this season might finally bring the Old Lady’s smile back.

Quote of the Issue“It was our worst ever day. It’s the worst result in my history, ever. Even as a player I don’t think I’ve ever lost 6-1. That’s a challenge for me too,”Manchester United man-ager Sir Alex Fergusonsaid about his side’s 6-1defeat to arch-rivals Manchester City.

Football scoresAC Milan 4 - 1 ParmaAtalanta 1 - 1 InterNapoli 2 - 0 UdineseR.Madrid 3 - 0 Villareal Granada 0 - 1 BarcelonaMan. Utd 1 - 6 Man CityQueens P.R. 1 - 0 ChelseaLiverpool 1 - 1 NorwichArsenal 3 - 1 Stoke City

Upcoming games05-11-2011Premier LeagueMan.Utd V SunderlandQueens P.R V Man.CityBlackburn V ChelseaLiverpool V SwanseaArsenal V West Brom.

06-11-2011Serie AAC.Milan V CataniaNapoli V JuventusGenoac FC V Inter

Upcoming games06-11-2011La LigaReal Madrid V OsasunaAth. Bilbao V Barcelona

Champions League 01-11 2011Racing Genk V ChelseaArsenal V MarseilleBATE V AC MilanViktoria V Barcelona

Champions League02-11-2011Bayern V NapoliVillarreal V Man CityInter V LilleMan.Untd V OtelulLyon V R.Madrid

Page 4: LAU Tribune - Issue 1

CAMPUS LIFE4 tribune oct. 31, 2011

Memorabilia… Branded Memories By Farah Al SaatiLAU Tribune staff

Running under the rain with a plastic bag full of books, Amal Houri stepped into the Orme-Gray Hall lobby to take shelter. As she sat there to relax, she noticed big white display cabinets. Houri approached one show-case, which contained neck-laces with carved LAU lo-gos and Phoenician letters. Houri was ecstatic. She is not an LAU student but al-ways wanted to have an item that is LAU branded, as she is fond of the university. The necklaces were 12,000 Leb-anese pounds each so she bought two, one for herself and one for her younger sis-ter who dreams of joining LAU one day.LAU’s Memorabilia Gallery is the place for students, fac-ulty, alumni, staff and fond guests to purchase objects that will showcase their LAU pride. The shop was inaugu-rated on April 28, 2011.

The gallery offers a variety of souvenirs. It has paper cut-ters, adaptors, umbrellas, mugs, t-shirts, hats, portfoli-os, USBs, leather card hold-ers, under cups and waist bags, among other objects of different types and colors, all bearing the LAU logo. The unique memorabilia logo was designed by Maria Ba-hous, a visiting lecturer at the school of architecture and design.

The gallery also includes ar-tistic creations focusing on Lebanese culture, such as a wooden engraved backgam-mon decorated with Phoe-nician drawings and boat-shaped pen holders with Phoenician statues. Prices vary by item. A ball pen is for mere 1,500 Leba-nese pounds while a small backgammon board costs 150,000 pounds.Alumni relations, auxilia-

ry services, the business of-fice, campus operations, the graphic design department, hospitality services, IT, the marketing and communi-cations office, planning and renovations and the purchas-ing office worked together to complete this project.Joumana Sakka manag-es the LAU Memorabilia Gallery. Sakka admits that many students do not know about the gallery yet. She pointed out that LAU alumni shop for souvenirs from the gallery more than currently enrolled students do. Sakka also explained that Lebanese undergraduates may not be aware that such shops are an essential part of universities in countries like the United States and the United Kingdom. Although the gallery pres-ents many items that can be used on a daily basis by scholars like ball pens, USBs

and mouse pads, most stu-dents are still oblivious of the memorabilia’s existence. “LAU has a memorabilia shop?” Cecilia Sanchez Mal-ebran, an LAU student from Chile, said, surprised. She confessed that she never paid much attention and admit-ted she never considered get-ting an LAU-branded item. “I suppose some people get items to remember their days at their university,” Me-lebran said. “After all, we spend the better part of four years on campus.”According to Farah, MBA student at LAU, people may know about the LAU Mem-orabilia Gallery but consid-er the items on sale a bit ex-pensive. Abdallah Iskandarani, LAU business graduate , has never heard of the LAU Memorabil-ia Gallery. “But I would love to get LAU brands because it makes me proud,” he said.

Disagreement about the LAU/AUB Agreement

“A change of environment is always healthy and benefi-cial and the second chance to do things better is an open highway,” a student at the American University of Bei-rut wrote. His comment came in response to an email AUB sent, asking students about their reaction to the LAU-AUB agreement.The agreement is a mutual contract allowing suspend-ed undergraduate students who fair poorly in their alma matter to transfer and be ac-cepted at a sister institution on trial basis. First put into action in February 2007, the agreement provided a frame-work for AUB and LAU stu-dents with more than one probation to apply as special students not working for a degree for two semesters, af-ter which they can reapply to their original school if they improve their GPA.

In summer 2011, LAU re-voked the agreement.“It was no longer to LAU’s advantage to remain in such an agreement,” Elise Salem, vice president for student de-velopment and enrollment management at LAU said. “It was a one way street and it wasn’t for our benefit.”According to the data provid-ed by Malek Tabbal, associ-ate dean of arts and sciences at AUB, about 200 students from the school in question joined LAU during the last four years, whereas a much smaller number migrated to AUB based on the agree-ment.It was this unequal flow of students that understand-ably worried LAU. “We were perceived as a dumping in-stitution and we are fight-ing this image,” Salem ex-plained.AUB administrators saw

it otherwise. For them, the agreement gave failing stu-dents a chance to recuperate at a respectable university such as LAU, instead of hav-ing to apply to unaccredited universities. “The advantage of sending students to LAU is that we are giving them the chance to go to a sister uni-versity,” Tabbal said. “This agreement was beneficial to students and we had many success stories.”The associate dean read me an email a student sent about the time he or she spent at LAU. “I found a lot of benefit and direct application from the courses I took at LAU to apply for my new job,” the student wrote.A source at AUB who refused to be identified explained that the unequal flow of stu-dents was not intended. It was rather related to the fact that the average upon which

LAU fails its students is low-er than AUB’s. “Students at AUB may be dropped if they get an av-erage grade below 70,” the source said. “This means that we have a larger num-ber of people suspended than LAU does.”But the misunderstand-ing does not seem to be irre-versible. Salem explained that LAU officials were not against drafting anoth-

er agreement, provided it helps their students. “The way they left it was that they would love to do a different agreement that makes more sense and is helpful for stu-dents,” she explained.R. A., a student who switched universities based on the agreement, approved of the idea. “It’s a good opportunity for students and it’s good to have it,” he said.

By Zeina ShehayebLAU Tribune staff

Photo by: Ahmad Yassine

Photo by: Yasmine D

abbous

Page 5: LAU Tribune - Issue 1

5

CAMPUS LIFEtribune oct. 31, 2011

Lebanese “American” University?By Iman SoufanLAU Tribune staff

Refraining herself from in-terrupting class discussion, Lea Assiri gazed down at the ground while folding her arms across the front, not understanding what’s being said. Fidgeting with her pen, she made the decision not to speak up and ask her class-mates to voice their opinion in English. Instead, she got friends to translate what she missed after class.Foreign students make up around a quarter of the stu-dent body. Out of the 2551 students accepted at LAU last fall, 441 came from re-gional and internation-al schools. And yet, some of them found themselves struggling in some courses because professors, students or both use Arabic to express themselves in class.Assiri, who grew up in Swit-zerland, speaks French and Spanish fluently. English is her third language. “I am at

LAU to improve my English,” Assiri said. But since her first year at the university, the young girl has been in several classes where she has been put at a disad-vantage due to language bar-riers. In one of the humani-ties courses, Assiri reminded her professor on several occa-sions that she did not speak Arabic but her reminders were disregarded. “I felt like I lost a lot of the course because of this,” As-siri explained. “I couldn’t un-derstand the debates or take part in them even if I want-ed to.”According to the LAU ac-ademic affairs policy, ap-proved by the Board of Trust-ees in June 2003, “the official language of instruction [at LAU] is English.”“It still shocks me that we’re now a pretty well known uni-versity with culturally di-verse professors and still, we

have this issue,” Natalia El-mani, a journalism senior at LAU, said.At the end of every semester, students are asked to evalu-ate their professors online. Among the items in question is one about the instructor’s English skills. Department chairs, deans and eventually the provost use these evaluations to as-sess the teaching-learning process. If a specific weak-ness, including the use of Ar-abic in class, is found repeti-tively throughout a faculty’s evaluation, the chair brings the issue to the instructor’s attention. “Faculty whose evaluations are consistently below stan-dards will not remain in the institution for long,” LAU Provost Abdullah Sfeir said. “Not using English is consid-ered to be a major weakness, and may lead to his/her im-mediate replacement should

the concerned faculty fail to address it.”Some professors do not take the issue lightly and con-stantly urge students to speak in English in class. “Last week, my communica-tion arts professor kept tell-ing students to speak in Eng-lish,” Assiri said. “Although some of them ignored the re-quest, I still appreciate it.”“I understand the fact that students need to speak in Ar-abic sometimes,” Assiri con-tinued. “For me, it’s easier to speak in French. But, at the same time, I think they should make an effort like I do.” Out of the 8067 students en-rolled at the university last fall, 80 percent were Leb-anese. Around 6.5 percent came from North America, 3.2 from Europe and Cau-cusus, 1.2 from Central and South America and 1 percent from Africa.

Although a minority, foreign students still amounted to 1578 members.Ameera Al Felaij, a Bahraini senior at LAU, agreed. “The presence of a foreign student shouldn’t be the reason pro-fessors and students speak in English in class! We’re in an American university after all,” she said. “In all my design courses, ev-eryone speaks in Lebanese and it’s quite difficult to un-derstand since it’s very dif-ferent from Bahraini.”Even some jury members who criticize Al Felaij’s proj-ects do it in Lebanese.“I struggle to completely un-derstand what they say,” she said.“I speak Arabic fluently, it’s not that I don’t, I just want to improve my English skills,” Al Felaij added. “I don’t re-sort to speaking Arabic in class, so I don’t see why other students do so.”

Blindly in Love By Layan Doueik LAU Tribune staff

She entered the café dis-creetly as she excused her co-logne to pass before her. She took a glimpse around the place, seeking a table with a sole man pondering. He is not there yet. She sat at the farthest table near the wall, waiting patiently to uncov-er her target. Unconsciously, she pulled a small mirror out of her purse to fix her make-up. Soon, a young man confi-dently entered the main door, hoping to spot the lady in red. Although it may sound like a scene from an American mov-ie, the story took place in Bei-rut. The two people know nothing about each other and have never met before. The only connection between them are the founders of the “Blind Date” venture at LAU.Marketing students Karim Ibrahim and Ahmad Harisi promoted their new business this fall under the slogan;

“you never know if you never go.” They publicized the ser-vice on and off campus.“The dating system in Amer-ica is much easier than here,” Ibrahim said. “People meet at a pub or randomly. In Leb-anon, people are somehow stuck up.”Initially, the idea was not about profit. The two young students wanted no less than positive social change. “The first few dates we arranged were for free to see the feed-back,” Harisi pointed out.

“We care a lot about it.”According to research by on-line dating experts, many refuse a blind date because they fear something will go horribly wrong, they will be made fun of or they will spend all night under the mercy of a psychotic stranger.“We have this prestige in Lebanese society, whereby searching for a partner per-sonally is considered a dis-grace,” Harisi said. “So we thought why not make peo-ple’s life easier through this

questionnaire.” He handed me a long list.Applicants who try the new business are asked 70 ques-tions, probing them about psychological and physiolog-ical characteristics. People who take the questionnaire pay a 20-dollar fee.“We analyze every answer critically and give great im-portance to the body lan-guage,” Ibrahim said.According to the service founders, many people were at first reluctant about the idea. “But attitudes changed when commitment to the ser-vice became optional and confidentiality was ensured,” Ibrahim said.X .X., an LAU business stu-dent who refused to reveal her name, tried the service and showed great interest in the young man she met. “Some mistakes happened but, overall, I liked his sense

of humor and knowledge,” she said with a smile. “We are still talking.”Contrary to the service founders’ expectations, only 30 percent of the applicants were males. “We had some difficulty in finding compati-ble couples due to the short-age of males applying,” Hari-si said. Khaled Nasser, an LAU lec-turer in interpersonal com-munication, pointed out that cultural norms may have re-stricted male participation in the project. Applying for a blind date may be interpret-ed as the contender’s failure to find women without the service, he explained. “Males may also find that a blind date implies commit-ment so they get scared,” Nasser continued. “Girls in nature like to experiment

Photo by: Iman Soufan

Continued on page 10

Page 6: LAU Tribune - Issue 1

PEOPLE6 tribune oct 31, 2011

Brian Prescott-Decie: The Right of NationalityBy Caroline FeghalyLAU Tribune staff

He opened the door of his of-fice and let me in with a wide smile. On his desk were piles of folders, occupying every inch of the table. From afar, he seems like a strict instructor, with a steady walk and penetrat-ing blue eyes. But when you sit in his classroom or have a talk with him, his friendly and cheerful attitude breaks the ice. Behind the academic, you also discover an activist who’s passionate about right-ing the wrongs that the Leb-anese system has imposed on him and his family.Brian Prescott-Decie has been teaching English, cul-tural studies and history at LAU for the past nine years. He graduated from Oxford University with a thesis on St Augustine then went to Greece where he studied lin-guistics at the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki.It was in Greece that he dis-covered his passion for teach-

By Assaad HawwaLAU Tribune staff

ing. Although he got a job in publishing, where he be-came the sales and mar-keting manager for the Mc-Graw-Hill school division for the MENA region, he left his important position to teach English and live close to his family.“Being rich was never a pri-ority for me,” Prescott-Decie said. “I had children whom I wanted to stay with, so busi-ness was not the way to go anymore. If I stayed in pub-lishing I would’ve lived out of my suitcase and in hotels.”It is this same care for his loved ones that has trans-formed Prescott-Decie into an activist, engaged in the national campaign calling on the Lebanese government to give female citizens the right to pass on their nationality to their children.According to the law of the land, children born in a fam-ily where the wife is Leba-nese but the husband is not

are not granted the Lebanese passport. “My wife is Lebanese and the Lebanese law rips her and our children off their rights,” Prescott-Decie said. “The Lebanese constitution states in Article Seven that men and women have equal rights and duties but, in real-ity, Lebanese men are more privileged. This is glaring and unpleasant.”The English instructor is frustrated that his two chil-dren, Edward age 8 and Ce-lia age 10, are confused as to

whether they are Lebanese or British. When they turn 18, they cannot get a work permit unless their employ-ers request one for them –a possibility that is not neces-sarily guaranteed.Prescott-Decie is a member of Fathers and Sons for Citi-zenship, a non-profit organi-zation that organizes march-es and works with ministers and members of Parliament as well as other activist groups to lobby for the cause. “This is a huge political and social problem that can cause the country to fall apart easily. It needs to be put straight,” the English in-structor said.On June 17, 2009, Samira Soueidan, a Lebanese citi-zen, was granted the right to give her nationality to her children after the death of her Egyptian husband in 1994. Ever since, groups have mushroomed advocat-ing a new law and many glob-

al organizations, including Amnesty International, also lobbied for this cause.“My children are Lebanese more than they are British,” Prescott-Decie said. “They haven’t lived in England. They attend Lebanese scout meetings, and they study regular Arabic program at school although they can be exempt from it.”“If this country didn’t give my children their rights as Lebanese, my children have no duties to this country,” he added.Prescott-Decie had hoped that the former government would resolve the issue but they failed to do so. He said he is not optimistic that the current administration will take action either. “I’m prepared to continue fighting,” he said, a deter-mined look in his blue eyes. “I hate to see my children’s country fall apart. I want to be heard.”

Although class was supposed to end five minutes earlier, the oral communication in-structor continued his lec-ture about the importance of non-verbal communication. Rachelle Mikhael, a pharma-cy student at LAU, looked at her watch with worried eyes. As soon as the instructor dis-missed the class, she ran to-ward the LAU upper gate and left campus in a rush. Minutes passed that felt like ages before a taxi driver stopped to pick her up. Even-tually, an old man in an old car asked her about her des-tination. “I am late for an im-portant ceremony,” she said.أوان“ كل و حني، األن كل الهنا اهلل تبارك الداهرين دهر الى -the priest ar ”,و ticulately said as Mikhael entered the church. With a large smile on her face, she

sat on one of the benches, glad that she made it on time for the service.Religious students on the LAU campus find they have duties beside their academic responsibilities. Christians and Muslims have prayers and ceremonies held on spe-cific times during the day and it is sometimes not easy for observing undergraduates to juggle between what instruc-tors impose and what God re-quests. Their relationship with classmates and friends on campus is at times re-stricted by the requirements of their religion.Muslims pray five times a day. Christians have vari-ous prayers set according to the upcoming feast. For ex-ample, in Orthodoxy in the Great Lent period, a service

is scheduled every night at 6.Like many others, Neam Katerji, a radio/TV/film stu-dent at LAU, sometimes finds herself obliged to take courses that work around her prayer schedule. “In rare cas-es, I might miss class if I have something urgent to do and if that doesn’t harm my aca-demic duties,” she said.It is almost noon; the sun is nearly at its highest point. Katerji felt the rays on her face. She wore a purple veil and a matching long-sleeved shirt. A moment later, the voice of the imam at the Ko-raytem mosque announced duhur. “أكبر ،اهلل أكبر the ”,اهلل voice resounded. Kater-ji, prostrating in an empty classroom, closed her eyes and murmured her prayer.Religious students are some-

times restricted in the way they relate to their peers. In a campus where male-female interaction is more or less re-laxed, such behavior may stand out –but, according to students, does not provoke negative reactions. “My friends never com-plained about my devotion to Church,” Mikhael said. Katerji reported the same general understanding. “No I don’t face problems, thank God!” She said. “But when guys try to shake my hand or hug me to say hi, I always back up, which sometimes annoys me. But I always ex-plain it to them.” Both the dean of student af-fairs, Raed Mohsen, and the university counselor, Nor-ma Moussally, agreed that LAU’s religious students

never faced any problems. Several university policies including the LAU code of ethics and the student code of ethics warn against discrimi-nation based on religious dif-ferences, among others. Mousally added that the only rare cases where religion came up in counseling were instances where major differ-ences between parental be-liefs existed.Mikhael, now an LAU grad-uate, remembers the good days she spent on campus. “I will never forget the semes-ters I shared with my friends at LAU, especially Muslim girls,” Mikhael said. “We al-ways felt that there is some-thing in common that con-nects us even though we belong to two different reli-gions.”

Photo by:Ahmad Yassine

Religious Students Joggle Academic and Religious Duties

Page 7: LAU Tribune - Issue 1

7tribuneoct. 31 , 2011

CULTURE & FASHIONMalas Brothers: Revolutionary Artists By Mayya Al-OgailyLAU Tribune staff

In the heart of Damascus, behind the walls of a small bedroom that barely fits 10 people, sit two young twin brothers in slim jogging suits. A glaring light illuminates their faces, which shine in contrast with the black wall behind them. In front of them, a small crowd watch-es, amused.“I am a Chinese actor who speaks Arabic fluently,” one of them says, emulating Syr-ian army insurgents who ap-peared on Arab news sta-tions such as Al Jazeera to announce their rebellion against Bashar Al Assad’s government. “I announce my revolt against Chinese dra-ma, because of the many Chi-nese actors who support the art.”Ahmed and Mohammed Ma-

theatre. From the outset, the perfor-mances of the Malas twins defied authority and called for change. But their art only acquired the importance it has today with the rise of the Arab Spring.“Art has played a major role in the recent Syrian upris-ing, and it’s our responsibil-ity as artists to express sol-idarity with our people in these times,” Ahmed said.Among their most successful plays is Tomorrow’s Revolu-tion Postponed to Yesterday. The play, which saw the light in their modest bed-room, stages a conversation between a police officer and a detained protestor. The scene, familiar in the Arab World, was up until then a taboo issue only discussed in private.

In the play, the Malas twins criticized the system and de-fiantly accused the regime of failing to provide the Syrian people’s basic rights. The performance was staged 25 times in Damascus, five in France, once in Russia and once in Beirut at the Sunflower Theatre. The Malas brothers faced major difficulties because of their work. On July 13, they joined other Syrian intel-lectuals in a protest that ul-timately led to their arrest and detainment. “It was so awful that you feel like the place is there but time does not exist,” Mo-hammed said.But prison did not thrash them. The twins performed one of their plays inside the detainment center. “The play was attended by strong

supporters of the regime, strong opponents and secu-rity personnel,” Ahmed said. “Every time they heard the word ‘president’ or ‘regime,’ the officers in charge would tell us to stop the play right away, also whenever some-body laughed or applauded.”The twin brothers tried to explain to one of the officers that this was just a play, al-though they were well aware of the significant power of their art. The officer chas-tised them for wanting free-dom because, he said, people in free countries pay three times more than Syrians for the price of food. “It is when you hear such nonsense that you know that the culture and the art you are offering is worth a hun-dred weapons,” Mohammed said.

sometimes cut the curtains at home and made dresses out of them. “My mom used to come back home from work and find her curtains torn and worn,

Back from the New York Fashion Week where he dis-played his Spring 2012 col-lection last September, Leba-nese designer Jad Ghandour has a full schedule meet-ing clients, working on his next collection and finishing dresses before deadlines. “Make it quick Mohamad,” he laughed as he looked over his tailors in his Victorian atelier. Walking in his show room feels like a stroll in a prin-cess’s closet. Ghandour’s lat-est dresses surround mas-sive antiques and Victorian furniture.Only 24, the young designer has become an official mem-ber in the Mercedes-Benz New York fashion week. He dressed many celebrities including Naomi Campbell, IMAN, Kesha, Miss Uni-verse and Paris Hilton. Born and raised in Beirut, the young man grew up a designer. As a little boy, he

Lebanese Designer Succeeds in New YorkBy Mohamad Al-OraybiLAU Tribune staff

I always got into trouble for that,” Ghandour remem-bered, laughing.A year after enrolling in Es-mod, an international design school with a branch in Bei-rut, Ghandour sold his first dress.His first official collection was displayed in a fashion show in Beirut, after which he was invited to Dubai and Miami.“Everything happened at a really fast pace,” Ghan-dour said. “Never did I imag-ine that I would be an offi-cial member at the New York Fashion Week at this age.” Today, Ghandour plans to base his main office in the Big Apple.The young designer’s last show was themed “Sahara.” The collection included shoes, dresses, jackets, pants and, for the first time, swim-suits for both men and wom-en. In terms of colors, Ghandour

used gold, chocolate brown, blood red, navy blue and pearl white. “The show was a big success,” he said. “I am very happy but will keep pushing forward.”It was not a surprise to see a lot of silk on Ghandour’s runway. He also used satin, tulle, organza and chiffon. “I was highly inspired by my voyages to the Arabian des-erts,” Ghandour explained. He finds the desert a mysti-cal art piece. Ghandour’s slim models in New York City were not alone on the catwalk. He had a cub and a young tiger in cages bordering his runway –a first in the history of fash-ion shows.Only hours before the event, Ghandour recieved com-plaints from animal activ-ists who tried to close down Ghandour’s show, arguing that the young animals’ hear-ing may be damaged from the loud music.

las are 28-year-old actors and playwrights who chose art to defy authority. Turned down around Syria because they have no connection to the power elite, they trans-formed their tiny bedroom into the smallest theater in the world, a one-square-me-ter stage. Their unusual per-formances made headlines because of their simplicity and impact. Raised in the suburbs of Da-mascus, the twin brothers come from a conservative family. As teenagers in high school, they were deemed “unfit” as members of Al Baath Party by their school principle.In 1997, the two brothers saw a stage performance by Syrian director Hatem Ali and knew right away that they belonged to the world of

“I designed ear plugs espe-cially for the animals un-der the supervision of a vet-erinarian,” Ghandour said. “They were perfectly fine and I hope they enjoyed the show.” Ghandour’s collections are known for being “prêt-cou-ture,” a hybrid between ready-to-wear and haute couture. This new trend allows wom-en to wear customized prêt-a-porter that has been tai-lored by hand. “My outfits can be worn to so-ciety brunches up till wed-dings and red carpets,” Ghandour said. “I refuse to limit myself.”Harper’s Bazaar magazine named Ghandour “the new Elie Saab.” “I refuse to compare myself to other Lebanese internation-al designers,” he said. “Each has his own style and the fashion industry has no lim-its.”

Photo via Facebook

Page 8: LAU Tribune - Issue 1

MEDIA & LITERATURE8 tribune oct. 31, 2011

Traveling to Another DimensionBy Carla HazarianLAU Tribune staff

Facebook Privacy... Does It Really Exist ?By Nora KamareddineLAU Tribune contributor

Since its release on May 17, 2011, Fable 3, a video game by Lionhead studios produc-tion, has pleased PC gamers worldwide. Major elements like quests, downloadable content, a hardcore mode, and 3D func-tionality have been imple-mented since the game’s first release in 2010 in Xbox ver-sion. The game’s new avail-ability on PC encouraged me to try it. The beginning seemed to be a little slow, as you have to get past a boring introductory tutorial. If you are an expe-rienced gamer, you may find this a bit mundane. But the story soon picks up and you are sucked into a tale of fan-tasy, humor and tragedy. You will have the pleasure to deeply immerse yourself in a world known as Albion, where you are the younger sibling of a tyrant ruler. At the beginning of the game, you flee from his castle with two trusted companions and

your dog. Early on, you know you must get an army and overthrow your evil brother, but how you go about it is en-tirely up to you. You have the option to be good or evil, which all de-pends on how you complete your tasks. For example, you will have options like sparing your surrendered enemies lives or taking them.As you travel from village to village, you meet differ-ent people who will help you along your quest. How you treat them affects your rela-tionship and influences how others perceive you. You can either win them over with your bravery and kindness or bend them to your will with fear and terror. Besides the main story line, you can also pursue business ventures like buying shops or renting homes. To earn an extra buck, you can perform side quests or take up an odd job like playing the lute or blacksmithing. You can

even buy your own home, get married and have kids. And if married life proves disap-pointing, you can still get a divorce. If being a law abiding citi-zen doesn’t appeal to you, you can always try a life of crime and break into shops at night to steal goods. This of course will affect your reputation with the people of the town, but who needs to be liked when they can be feared?Your character’s appearance is adjustable. Although, at

the beginning of the game, you are only given the option to choose your gender, you will later be able to try new haircuts, dyes and clothing. Your character’s appearance will also change to look more angelic or demonic depend-ing on the morality of your actions. Even your dog’s look is changeable as you unlock different breeds with game progression.Your dog will be your con-stant companion, warning you of enemies up ahead and

helping sniff out treasures. You have the ability to train, reward or mistreat him.The graphics are good and, on a PC with a good graph-ics card, they are even better. I sometimes couldn’t help but admire some of the scen-ery, as my character traveled from place to place. Probably the best thing about this game is the capti-vating and rich storyline, as you follow your character on all sorts of adventures. The cinematic made me feel like I was watching a good movie, and half the time kept me on the edge of my seat. The di-alogue in itself is hilarious, and I would often find my-self laughing hysterically in front of my computer screen. Fable 3 gives hardcore gam-ers a better, and more dif-ficult, version of its prede-cessor. It brings more to the table with its story line and its style, making it a game for everyone from new amateurs to veteran players.

Photo by: Ahmad Yassine

The news came to him as a shock. Maximilian Sch-rems, a 23-year-old law stu-dent at the University of Vienna, found upon investi-gation that Facebook collect-ed 1,200 pages of information about him since he signed up to the social network three years earlier. According to the data pro-tection law applied through-out the European Union, all EU citizens may request any and all information a compa-ny saved or collected about them. Being aware of this di-rective as a law student, Sch-rems decided to do exactly that. His first attempt was ignored by Facebook. After several more attempts, he received a CD with 4.8 MB of informa-tion collected on him (in print

form, the information was laid out in 1,200 pages). The data was divided into 57 cat-egories such as “physical to-ken,” “religious views,” “real-time activities,” etc. What exactly is written on those 1,200 pages? Schrems found that a large part of the information com-prised private messages he had deleted from his Face-book page. Delicate infor-mation was collected about him and his friends, some of which were not Facebook members. Information included items such as sexual orientation, political beliefs or health data, inferred from wall posts or status updates. It even contained material that was not openly stated but that was concluded based on pag-

es Schrems liked, the links he shared or the pictures he was tagged in. For example, if you were caught on a picture at a protest, Facebook can infer that you follow a specific po-litical ideology or party. Facebook, which was found-ed in 2004 and only operated at Harvard in its early begin-nings, now has over 750 mil-lion members worldwide –and the figure is rising. But even with such a large num-ber of participants, the social network can still accumulate and retain information over the years because its serv-ers in Silicon Valley are large enough to accommodate this amount.“We may share your informa-tion in response to a legal re-quest (like a search warrant, court order or subpoena) if

we have a good-faith belief that the law requires us to do so,” the Data Use Policy on the Facebook site said. This means that the data Facebook collects on you may be given over to the author-ities or to the police if Face-book deems it necessary. Looking further into the pol-icy document, one will find that Facebook will also pass on the information in its pos-session if the company thinks there is a possibility of a user doing something illegal or harmful.What does one do with all this information once it is in one’s grasp? Schrems knew that what Facebook did -re-tain his deleted items- is ille-gal in the European Union so he sent the files to the busi-ness seat of Facebook located

in Ireland. Within four days, he received a reply from the Irish, saying that they would audit all Facebook dealings within the EU to ensure le-gality. Many people have sued Face-book on similar basis but only elicited a slow response. This time something was be-ing done. Schrems sued Face-book in 22 different lawsuits, 16 of which were already passed and approved by the authorities in Ireland. Will Facebook respond to the outrage and introduce stricter privacy laws? And if it does, will it apply them to users beyond the European Union? Until that happens, you may want to think twice before you send another message to a friend.

Page 9: LAU Tribune - Issue 1

OPINION9tribuneoct. 31, 2011

WRITE!Do you have anything you’d like to say?

Tribune’s opinion page is designed to

provide you with a free forum where you can be published.

Send your articles to [email protected]

ergy. There is no shortage of wind, water, and sun in this country. But why haven’t we changed already if the an-swer is right in front of us? The real culprit here is greed; the government doesn’t want to spend on the pricey bud-get it will take to complete-ly renovate Lebanon’s ener-gy capacity. Even though, on the long term, the project would be profitable, we live in a place where no one is willing to spend money unless they can be instantly gratified. Af-ter all, more electricity equals bad news for the generator suppliers. I don’t see a solution any time in the near future, unless maybe overthrowing the gov-ernment in the Arab Spring fashion sounds like a sim-ple task. If not, then all I can say is speak your mind and do what you can to improve this energy crisis.

Note: The LAU Tribune is not responsible for the opinions expressed on this page.

Who, in this age, does not own a Facebook account? An-swer: No one! Well, maybe your grand-mother doesn’t but she’s ex-empted from counting. What about your Twitter account? Does it still have the egg as your profile picture? By the way, if it does, it’s bad!Social Media has taken over our lives even though we may not notice it. That’s why this course is here to make us notice, engage and excel in the field. COM 485 is taught by Ayman Itani and it is one of the youngest courses in the Middle East.Before Facebook, on your birthday, only your close friends called you, sent you an email or maybe a mobile text message to wish you a happy birthday. But now, with your presence on a social channel like Face-book, everyone will know.

You will get at least a 100 wall posts of wishes, greet-ings, videos and so on. Even people you never spoke to but added as friends would post something on your wall. So you are on Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Flickr, YouTube and LinkedIn etc… but do you really know how to manage and link these social channels to get the best out of them, or do you just go with the flow? Why not have a perfect pro-file on LinkedIn that will make companies ask for you? Why not learn the tech-niques of staying active in all of these channels without losing much time?Do you know the secrets and etiquettes in handling them? Yes, there are etiquettes when it comes to being active on social media! For example, do you know that deleting a tweet you

wrote that mentions some-one else is considered offen-sive? This is why you need to take this course. You must have the keys to the game the world is playing so you can play it well. This course is your gate to ac-quiring all the skills to put you on the road to social me-dia success. COM 485, or topics in cur-rent affairs, aims at enabling communication arts stu-dents to adapt and fully take advantage of the industry shifts. It specifically teaches: con-tent generation, consump-tion, distribution, and com-mercialization. And guess what? Anyone is welcome to join and take it as a free elec-tive. It’s the social media era! Ride the train, and in a good seat, or get left behind.

Jump in to the New Era!By Farah Al SaatiLAU Tribune staff

In a grungy residential build-ing in Beirut, a family sits to-gether in candle light, some engage in small talks, and others read a book. Surprisingly, this is neither the middle ages nor a time before Benjamin Franklin. This image that is painted for you in every other building in present day Lebanon that does not have the privilege of a local generator. Every day like clockwork, Lebanon’s electricity shuts down at cer-tain hours, and everyone who has the means switches to generator power. Something the rest of the world might find surprising in this day and age. Yet, this is Lebanon’s genius solution to the country’s in-ability to produce enough electricity. With that, we have grown to become the children of the generator; it is the deluxe item that no full

functioning upper middle class home goes without. I sometimes wonder if we lead the way in the world’s high-est demand of generators. Then there is the UPS, also known as uninterruptible power supply. Another val-ued piece of machinery that helps us through these tough times. The longevity of my computer and play station depends solely on my little UPS battery.It’s ridiculous that we are still battling third world problems. You would have thought that, by now, they would have at least taken some steps to getting this country a more reliable sup-ply of power.Lebanon’s power produc-tion was an already flawed design before the civil war, and little has been done since then. Yet, there is one obvi-ous solution: renewable en-

Electricity: A Problem We All ShareBy Carla HazarianLAU Tribune staff

Situating myself in the front row, I was ready to take on Standard Arabic I. In my mind, the class was ba-sic, “standard” and, above all, I understood a relative-ly decent amount of Arabic words that were thrown my way. Even though I was ex-empted from the required course, I thought I could han-dle it. But as soon as the instructor entered the room, she wrote the alphabet on the board and asked us how to form cer-tain sentences with the prop-er slashes and dashes above the letters. My face went blank and my head twisted around as I tried to understand the mumbling of the Ara-bic speaking students in the back. They seemed to know exactly what they were talk-ing about. “You have got to be kidding me,” I thought. I do not know how to compose a proper sen-tence in Arabic in the first place, but writing the letters on the board was in a whole other ball park. I could barely catch what the teacher said and the fear spread fast as I tried to dodge eye contact with her in hopes that she wouldn’t call on me to answer one of her ques-tions. My only option was to come clean to her after class, ad-mit I can’t string 10 words to-gether and that a majority of what she said in class might

as well have been in Chinese.The end result went much better than I expected. Apparently, I wasn’t the only foreigner who thought she could take on that course.I was thankfully transferred into a new class with a hand-ful of students who were in the same boat as I was: the original standard Arabic I was not what we had in mind. We began the new class with a clean slate. We were asked to write each letter three times so that we could even-tually become comfortable with the written aspect of the language, and were taught how to say “alif, baa, taa,” etc until we somewhat perfect-ed it and ultimately learned how to read small texts in Ar-abic. For me, this basic course classified more under the “standard I” terms for an Ar-abic class, but others might have argued that it resem-bled more of some kindergar-ten material. Even though the amount of non-Arabic speakers at LAU probably doesn’t exceed that of a football team, we should be given an option to avoid the difficulty and the embar-rassment that might occur to us.Just like there’s an abundant amount of extensive and in-tensive English classes of-fered to students, at least one or two courses of beginners Arabic should be taught for the less experienced.

By Natalia ElmaniLAU Tribune staff

A Standard Too High

Page 10: LAU Tribune - Issue 1

10

CONTINUEDtribune oct. 31, 2011

New Ban With No Plan

As a smoker, Lyn Abu-Seraj, a journalism major, is not concerned by the crowd as much as she is worried about the constant passing of cars. “I almost got run over by a black pick-up the other day!” Abu-Seraj complained.Mohsen explained that a solution to this problem is in the works. “We are going to build four speed bumps for the cars outside the upper gate,” Mohsen said. He warned students to watch out for themselves and those around them. Walking down from Copy House, you find a path that has been drawn by a countless number of cigarette buds on the floor. At the gate, a cloud of smoke ensures that every student entering campus smells like an ashtray. Investigating the littering, I counted 22 cigarette buds per square meter on the floor outside; the surface area of the upper gate is 25 meters. In other words, there may be around 550 cigarette buds in the upper gate area. In the four meters in front of the gate, about 62 buds could be found at 2:30 p.m. on a Monday and it got worse as time passed.According to the guards, the mess on the floor is a daily occurrence. One of the guards asked to be moved to another gate after he developed allergies from the smoke.Natalie Kreidieh, a film major, thinks that the university should supply more ashtrays and gar-bage bins for students to prevent littering. “LAU must not forget that a large number of their students are smokers so making such a decision needs more responsibility of providing a safe environment for students,” Kreidieh said. “If LAU is taking the decision to make a non-smoking campus then it must supply the necessi-ties that come with it,” Hadi Dernaika, an interior design student said. “Although I am a smok-er, I always throw my buds in the ashtray when I finish, I don’t understand why students don’t do that.”Mohsen argues that smoking outside campus does not explain the mess. “Banning smoking on campus does not justify littering in front of the gates, there is no correlation between the two,” he said. “It definitely reflects lack of civilization when a person decides to place a cup of coffee on the fence or throw a cigarette bud on the floor when the ashtray is two steps away.”It is unclear how many people voted on the LAU Tribune website but, of those who did, 76 per-cent have indicated satisfaction with the ban.Just two months into the semester and the smell of upper gate has already begun to affect peo-ple. This leaves students who go outside during their break at a health hazard. “I’m a smoker but yet every time I walk through upper gate, the fog of smoke leaves me coughing,” Adam Si-mon, a business major, said. Dr. George Cortas, a gastroenterologist at Saint George Hospital, said that non-smokers are transformed into second-hand smokers in such an environment. “Whenever you are around people that are smoking, especially up to 80 to 100 students, you will definitely get second hand smoke,” Dr. Cortas explained.Since the start of the semester, rumors have circulated that a designated smoking area on cam-pus would be considered. But Mohsen dismissed the possibility of such a decision in the near fu-ture. “For the time being, it is not being considered,” he said. “I really hope that the bad doesn’t outweigh the good in this decision to ban smoking because it can really better the environment of the LAU campus,” Soufan concluded.

Continued from page 1

Interested

in

writing?

Contact

us at

[email protected]

repeatedly inquired about the state of the elevator and that the latest answer she got re-lated to a missing spare part. “They were trying to fix it dur-ing the summer but they now stopped working on it com-pletely until further notice,” she said.“When we urge the operation office to fix it as soon as possi-ble, we ask them for the sake of people with disabilities. It is not a luxury anymore,”

Company offices in Mount Lebanon, explained that the prob-lem only surfaced after the Civil War. “I started working in 1961. During those days, water reached all apartments 24/7, and people never had to buy tanks,” he explained. “The crisis began in 1975 because water pipe maintenance and develop-ment stopped with the war. Also, water supplies in some areas were not enough with people on the move.”El-Haber proposed that the government should work on three types of solutions: building enough dams and reservoirs in or-der to conserve river and rain water, teaching people to use water efficiently, and performing regular infrastructure main-tenance. Meanwhile, Wadad, a Lebanese housewife, paid fifty dollars to the mechanic who repaired her washing machine. It broke again because of the calcified well water she is forced to use. “Every year I have to buy a new one because of this water, why don’t they do something about it?” she asked, furious. “They take our money and just let us suffer. That is what I call cor-ruption.”

Water-Rich Lebanon is Thirsty

Inter-Faith group which helps form a better understanding between people of all religious backgrounds, to create coher-ence in society. He has written extensively in scholarly jour-nals, newspapers and magazines and made numerous media appearances. Frossard has replaced former deans Samira Aghacy of the Beirut campus and Fouad Hashwa of the Byblos campus. El-fakhani has replaced former deans Tarek Mikdashi of the Bei-rut campus and Wassim Shahin of the Byblos campus.

Continued from page 11

The New Deans of LAU

Continued from page 1

Disabled Suffering

Continued from page 2

Ghorayeb explained angrily. “We should have an answer as to when it would be fixed.” Meanwhile, Haidar is still be-ing carried by two men every-day –certainly until the recov-ery of the elevator or possibly until her own. “If people are disabled, it doesn’t mean they are dif-ferent,” Haidar bitterly said. “They deserve to pursue their education like everyone else without any difficulties.”

The Team: Editors-in-Chief:Farah Al Saati, Ranim Hadid, Zahi Sahli

Staff:Maria Fellas, Lyn Abu-Seraj, Layan Doueik, Assaad Hawwa, Natalia Elmani, Car-la Hazarian, Mohamad Al-Oraybi, Iman Soufan, Zeina Shehayeb, Caroline Feghaly, Mayya Al-Ogaily, Rouba Jaafar, Omar El Tani, Samia Buhulaiyem

Adviser:Yasmine Dabbous

and talk more about themselves.”Y. Y., a business management student at LAU tried the ser-vice but was disappointed. “We had a nice chat, but I didn’t find her hot,” he said.So far, six couples tried the blind date, three out of which worked out. This 50-percent success ratio gave the founders the motive to continue and promote their business further.Ibrahim and Harisi hope the outcome of each date they initi-ate would be love and marriage. “We began with a blind dat-ing service. Nobody knows; we might end with a wedding plan-ner’s company,” Ibrahim said, laughing.

Blind Love Continued from page 5

Page 11: LAU Tribune - Issue 1

OFF CAMPUS

By Samia BuhulaiyemLAU Tribune staff

Water-Rich Lebanon is Thirsty

11tribune

LAU Students Proceed, LU Students Protest By Layan DoueikLAU Tribune staff

status.“I can’t wait any longer, it’s my future at stake here,” Bilal, an LU student who refused to give his family name, said. “I have to leave the country as soon as possi-ble for there are many inter-views pending.” Dalal Jarmak, histology pro-fessor at LU, explained that the university’s instructors are significantly underpaid. “The salary doesn’t cover my daughters’ fees at any pri-vate university,” she said. “It barely covers my own ex-penses.”According to the office of in-stitutional research and as-sessment at LAU, the aver-age yearly basic salary of a professor, excluding bonus-es, is 97,099 US dollars, an associate professor 67,595 dollars and a minimum of 30,291 dollars for an assis-tant instructor.At LU, untenured professors with a B.A. have a salary of 25,000 Lebanese pounds per

hour while tenured profes-sors with a Ph.D. earn only 2,500,000 Lebanese pounds per month, excluding insur-ance.A number of LU students were asked about the strike; no one supported it. Inter-viewees reprimanded their professors and worried that their entire academic year could be in jeopardy. “It is going to be a burden on us [students] for there would be extra work and overnights,” Nour Eddine la-mented. “Plus they will ex-tend the scholar year till the end of June.”On the other side, nothing seems to disturb the harmo-ny between students and professors at LAU, who be-gan their year peacefully and expect to end it in the same way. “There is this unwritten agreement between us,” Ja-lal Tamim, a 20-year-old LAU student said. “We pay, they teach.”

LAU increased the cost of a credit at the beginning of this academic year by 12 US dollars, which adds a total of 140 dollars to the whole tu-ition. When asked about this raise, Tamim seemed oblivious. “Oh really? When was that?” he asked as he checked his BlackBerry in one hand and rejected a call from an I-Phone with the other.Like LU students, Tamim began his classes late, but not for the same reason. His classes informally started on the second week of the aca-demic year. “First week is always useless so why bother?” he asked.“I don’t believe that LAU fac-ulty would go on strike due to income-related issues,” Raed Mohsen, the dean of stu-dents at LAU, explained. “At some point during the Leb-anese civil war, faculty and staff willingly worked with-out pay.”The support of foreign coun-

After a long three-month summer, the academic year at the Lebanese American University resumed smooth-ly but the Lebanese Uni-versity’s fall term has been paused until further notice. Samara Nour Eddine, an 18-year-old freshman who ranked second among the candidates applying for ar-chitecture at the LU, is ea-gerly waiting to initiate her college journey. Unfortunately, she is still in abeyance. “I can’t wait for this strike to end,” Nour Ed-dine said. “I was full of ener-gy to start, now I feel like I am losing it.”This situation doesn’t only affect the young woman and all freshman students like her, but it also afflicts the thousands still waiting for a second round of examina-tions, held for those who ini-tially failed their courses, in addition to others who are yearning to graduate in or-der to improve their financial

tries such as the United States, in addition to the gen-erous donations from the alumni are of a big aid to the educational system and fac-ulty at LAU. Unfortunately, the Leba-nese University is not gifted with such benefits, barely be-ing assisted by the Lebanese government.Nour Eddine was among 30 students who got accepted out of the thousands who ap-plied for the LU architecture department. Tamim was among the hundreds who got accepted to LAU’s business department. But the journey of education in Lebanon differs from one college to another, where for-tunate students seem unwor-ried about any interruption or delay, as long as this “un-written agreement” is still running. “Well, I have no other op-tion but to wait as I can’t af-ford any private university,” Nour Eddine said.

It was late in the evening when Umm Youssef en-tered her kitchen after the last guest had left. Heaps and piles of dishes and oth-er kitchen utensils awaited her. She turned on the water tap to but did not get a single drip. Umm Youssef activated the pump to muster some water from her ground floor tank, but did not hear water pour-ing into her apartment reser-voir. “I became hysterical,” she said. “Do officials in this country suffer like I do? They only discuss our problems be-fore elections.”Ultimately, Umm Youssef decided to call a man from whom she always bought water for 25,000 Lebanese pounds per tank.

Lebanon enjoys the most im-portant sources of water in the eastern Mediterranean. During high school, we failed our exams if we could not re-member the names of the fourteen Lebanese rivers pouring into the sea, rainfall readings and famous govern-ment projects like the Green

Project, the Qaraoun Dam, and many others. With this in mind, one finds it quite curious that a Leb-anese housewife like Umm Youssef is forced to buy wa-ter tanks when she never fails to pay annual govern-ment water bills.Shawki, who refused to give

his full name, is a water tank owner who has been selling water since 1976. “I buy wa-ter from government res-ervoirs,” he said. “I pay the guards 5,000 Lebanese pounds for a two-cubic-meter tank and I sell it for 25,000 pounds.” Shawki was unconcerned about Lebanon’s water short-age problem. “I do not care, as far as my wheels are run-ning and customers are pay-ing. Why should I care?” he asked. “I earn my living, I am building two extra floors, and buying my wife new clothes and furniture.”“I work during summers when tourists come, and like an ant, during winter, I sit beside my stove,” Shawki added.After the delivery boy gave

her four twenty-liter gallons of potable water, Mona, an-other Lebanese housewife, looked quite angry. “We pay the government, tank own-ers, and potable water sell-ers,” she said. “That is extor-tion!”Nicolas Tohmeh of Al Jazeera reported on the news outlet’s website that water waste in Lebanon is estimated at 1.2 billion cubic meters annually. Although Lebanese authori-ties began formal studies for the construction of 24 dams, successive governments have only approved of 10. They de-ferred the implementation of remaining projects for politi-cal reasons.Nicolas El-Haber, former di-rector of one of the Water

oct. 31, 2011

Photo by: Farah Dabbous

Continued on page 10

Page 12: LAU Tribune - Issue 1

12

OFF CAMPUStribune oct. 31 , 2011

From the Far East to the Middle EastBy Ivana HindiLAU Tribune contributor

Six colorful benches were recently added to Hamra street, thanks to a sponsored follow-up project connected with the Hamra Street Festi-val, Maraya 2011. Not only did the people of the neighborhood gain the luxu-ry of sitting on a bench for a breather on an idle Tuesday afternoon, they also got to benefit from the splash of cre-ativity that came along with them.The benches are still con-crete slabs placed on legs, but they have undergone artistic enhancement. Najwa Baroody, director of the Maraya Hamra Festi-val, explained that the orga-nization conceived the idea of the benches in order to in-volve young upcoming artists and provide the residents of Hamra and those who fre-quent it with a breathing room. “What inspired me to put these benches was the idea of giving back to the people of the street a chance to sit and enjoy and relax,” she said. Three artists and LAU alum-ni, Dalia Baassiri, Danny Khoury and Nisreen Mohtar, executed the project. “We had the artistic freedom to address society the way we wanted, as long as it was not offensive in any way,” Baas-siri said. The images she painted were not based on prior sketches. “They were entirely sponta-neous,” Baassiri explained. She described herself as a “graphic reporter in how I translate what I see and hear into images.”The layers upon layers in her pieces were inspired by the interaction with the people around her during the paint-ing process, which took five working days to complete. The process itself attracted an audience of all ages; even older groups liked Baassiri’s abstract work, appreciated the detail and revisited to see her progress.

Coloring HamraBy Farrah BerrouLAU Tribune contributorJapanese branded cars flood

Lebanese highways. Beirut summer outings include din-ners at hip sushi bars in nar-row Ashrafiyeh alleys. Yet, it was never Lebanon’s concern that the makers of brands such as Nissan or Toyota are actually worldwide re-nowned tourists who fre-quent different parts of the world. According to the Ministry of Tourism, the influx of Japa-nese sightseers to the coun-try reveals a considerable increase. Joumana Kibrit, head of research studies at the ministry, revealed en-couraging statistics: 2008 welcomed 1934 Japanese visitors while 2010 boasted a significant 3906.The Lebanese population amounts to 4,017,095 ac-cording to the CIA World Factbook. The Japanese em-bassy in Lebanon reveals 60 registered Japanese in the country, 30 to 40 of which are long-term residents.Junko Hoki, one of the few Japanese residents of Bei-rut, explained how the Jap-anese in Lebanon, like any other minority, strongly stick together. “I got to know the few Japanese people who come and go, as well as the few ones who live here,” Hoki said, keen on sharing her sto-ry.Hoki works at “Jing,” a re-fined English tea room on Monot street. With her pitch black hair tied in a knot, a wide smile and sculpted eyes behind black framed eye-glasses, Hoki’s physical ap-pearance seemed to match the mood of the tea room. “I am very knowledgeable about tea. The owner of “Jing” was looking for some-one like that. So I switched from being a fascinated tour-ist in Lebanon to a long-term retailer resident,” she said proudly. Back when she was a tour-ist, Hoki resided in “Talal,” a small hostel located near Downtown Beirut and which houses many Japanese tour-

ists. Most of them surpris-ingly visit Lebanon on cheap budgets or long backpacking trips.The New York Times shows that a Japanese employee is likely to expect a short vaca-tion with an average of 7.4 days in the manufacturing sector, yet travel is a must on his to-do list, and it is a pri-mary activity for him to in-dulge in.Statistics from the ministry of tourism in Beirut revealed that the areas mostly visit-ed by Japanese sightseers in Lebanon are Tripoli, Jbeil, and Baalbeck.Oussama Nasser is the own-er of a yellow, rusty looking taxi cab. He welcomed us in an atmosphere that com-bined heat, worn-out leather and loud Arabic music. “I do receive Japanese tour-ists in my taxi,” he laughed piercingly, emphasizing his statement with a hand gesture out of the window. “Sometimes I can witness 3 or 4 of them in my taxi per day, yet a year can go by without having encountered at least one Japanese tour-ist.”The Japanese, who are re-puted to buy the world in two-week holidays, are heavy trip planners who head mainly toward Europe. But the Jap-anese people who come to Lebanon seem different. So-phisticated consumer-tour-ists are rare in Beirut’s high end boutiques. Surveys show that 92 per-cent of Japanese women

own a Louis Vuitton hand-bag. I have therefore decid-ed to enter the Louis Vuitton boutique on a crowded and heated weekend afternoon in Beirut. The smell of heavy perfume emanated from the sleekly designed room. One of the vendors, Nisrine Bleik, looked suspicious once the subject was evoked. “Jap-anese visitors solely enter the shop to duplicate models of the newest collections, and then sell the knock offs. They never buy,” she revealed. Considering the high per-centage of backpacker tour-ists from Japan, “Talal,” a hidden hostel near down-town Beirut is where most of them stay the few days they spend in Lebanon. They range from nomad stu-dents, journalists, photogra-phers to families and groups of friends.Wissam Abou Lteif is the manager of the “Talal” hos-tel. The four-walled recep-tion room is poorly ventilat-ed and neon lit stairs lead the way to a cafeteria, where computer printed papers that read the words “Talal café” were glued to the walls. “Talal” hostel offers special prices for tourists.“We have dorms for tourists who come in groups. They cost 12 dollars per night. We also have private rooms without toilets, that cost 30 US dollars per night,” Abou Lteif said. “If toilets are re-quested to be included, that’s a good 35 dollars, and add a king size bed to that, it will go

up to 40 dollars.”“The backpacker movement started around 2001. Asians used to come in bigger num-bers.” Abou Lteif explained that Japanese tourists usu-ally know when to spend and when to skimp. “They give each country its merit, and Lebanon does not appeal to them shopping-wise because they do not see it as a shop-ping city,” he said. “In fact, Japanese people like to save money.”Kimi Taka is in Lebanon for the second time as a tourist. He is a loyal client at the “Ta-lal” hostel. Dressed in a worn out orange shirt and striped knee high socks, Taka is the typical splurge-free tourist who uses his eyeglasses to gaze at monuments instead of showing off his latest sun-glasses. A khaki backpack rests on his shoulder. “I came to Lebanon dur-ing the winter of 2010, and stayed here for a week be-fore going to Syria,” he said. Taka said he fell in love with the Lebanese weather, land-scape, and Mediterranean Sea, but also pointed out the expensive costs in the coun-try. Abou Lteif explained that the Japanese tourists who visit the hostel are only concerned about having a proper bath-room and somewhere to eat. “Sometimes, those people wake up at 5 am to cook ob-noxious smelling food,” he laughed. “It is a normal ritu-al for them, and it helps them save money instead of eating out.”Hoki proudly talked about her friend, the only Japa-nese chef currently work-ing in Lebanon. “His name is Mitsu, he works at My Bar in downtown Beirut,” she said. “Some of our mutual friends come to visit us while they tour Lebanon at the same time. But if they come to Leb-anon, it is mainly to visit us. Japanese people usually like to plan most of their holidays in Europe, but I did love Leb-anon,” she added.

Photo via Creative C

omm

ons


Signal Tribune Issue 3236

Signal Tribune Issue 3236

Signal Tribune Issue 3232

Signal Tribune Issue 3232

Signal Tribune Issue 3233

Signal Tribune Issue 3233

weekend Tribune Vol. 2 Issue.13

weekend Tribune Vol. 2 Issue.13

Signal Tribune Issue ST3228

Signal Tribune Issue ST3228

Weekend Tribune Vol-2 Issue-8

Weekend Tribune Vol-2 Issue-8

Signal Tribune Issue 3319

Signal Tribune Issue 3319

Tribune Issue 5

Tribune Issue 5

Signal Tribune Issue ST3249

Signal Tribune Issue ST3249

Al- Raida Issue #30 - LAU

Al- Raida Issue #30 - LAU

Signal Tribune Issue 3221

Signal Tribune Issue 3221

Signal Tribune Issue 3229

Signal Tribune Issue 3229

Signal Tribune Issue 3245

Signal Tribune Issue 3245

Occupied Oakland Tribune, issue 5

Occupied Oakland Tribune, issue 5

College Tribune Issue 9

College Tribune Issue 9

Weekend Tribune Vol 1 Issue 23

Weekend Tribune Vol 1 Issue 23

Signal Tribune Issue ST3225

Signal Tribune Issue ST3225

Signal Tribune Issue 3308

Signal Tribune Issue 3308

TC Tribune March Issue

TC Tribune March Issue

Signal Tribune February 15 issue

Signal Tribune February 15 issue