Covering the Town meeting held by AUB Administration to discuss the tuition increase at AUB

May 18, 2010 /   / Comments
Today, I attended the tuition increase town meeting that was held by members of the AUB Administration (President Dorman, VP Kenny, Provost Dallal, Dean Kisirwani, etc) and I was reporting the event live on twitter via @mhijazi.

This was my first experience with twitter reporting, and I am glad to say it was very enjoyable.

Tomorrow, I will be covering parts of the protest via twitter also, and between my classes. (No, I am not skipping classes, here's why)

Below are the tweets related to today's meeting from newest to oldest, so I would recommend that you read from bottom to top.



  1. again mentioning the wasta in admissions and denying themabout 2 hours ago via mobile web
    • basically this new policy is like robin hood: taking from the rich and giving to the poor.      about 2 hours ago via mobile web
      • "aub medical centre is currently making profit and covering its debts" - vp kenny        about 2 hours ago via mobile web
        • "we dont want the students to pay the debt of the aub medical centre" - the shouting speaker          about 2 hours ago via mobile web
          • "this new financial aid policy will be transperant" - dallal            about 2 hours ago via mobile web
            • "we need to have more transperancy at AUB" - dallal              about 2 hours ago via mobile web
              • provost dallal is refering to my wasta article, but claims that he cannot do anything without evidence.                about 2 hours ago via mobile web
                • "it is simply impossible to balance our budget without the increase" - dallal                  about 2 hours ago via mobile web
                  • "cost of aub faculty and their salaries is increasing." - dallal                    about 2 hours ago via mobile web
                    • "current students will not get additional financial aid because they are not affected by the 15 credit policy" - vp kenny                      about 2 hours ago via mobile web
                      • the shouting speaker is talking again and being very rude                        about 2 hours ago via mobile web
                        • dallal is explaining that the scholarship donors are minimal / only 5%                          about 2 hours ago via mobile web
                          • usfc vp elias ghanem is asking why will AUB be paying financial aid from student tuitions.                            about 2 hours ago via mobile web
                            • "we modified the policy according to the student's feedback"                              about 2 hours ago via mobile web
                              • "the student loans will not replace the financial aid" - dallal                                about 2 hours ago via mobile web
                                • "financial aid budget will leap from $13mil to 28mil in 4 years" - dallal                                  about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                  • provost dallal is responding to the speaker's statement                                    about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                    • the speaker, who didnt mention his name, is now off the stage                                      about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                      • the speaker is comparing aub to the lifestyle is auc and aud...                                        about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                        • "our campaign is a non violent one - revoke the 15 credit policy"                                          about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                          • the speaker should stop screaming at the provost and the VP                                            about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                            • cheerful crowd clapping for the speaker, reminds me of a political leader speech                                              about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                              • many points of what he is saying were already refuted by VP Kenny                                                about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                                • he is stating the drawbacks of the 15 credit policy while almost screaming                                                  about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                                  • "students who want to attend classes tomorrow are free to do so"                                                    about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                                    • "our aim to cancel the 15 credit system" he said.                                                      about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                                      • a chosen representative from the protest took the stage.                                                        about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                                        • time for audience questions                                                          about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                                          • "80% of the students will qualify for financial aid with this program"                                                            about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                                            • 65% of the additional revenue is going directly to financial aid.                                                              about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                                              • "the average net increase is 5.8% and not 25%"                                                                about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                                              • "new students will pay upto 15 credits rather than 12"about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                                                • "in the next few years, the tuition increase will not exceed 4%"                                                                  about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                                                  • "after this increase, AUB will be cheaper than all institutions except LAU"                                                                    about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                                                    • "right now aub tuition is lower than other institutions in the middle east, LAU, AUC, AID, AUS..."                                                                      about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                                                      • "we will not allow students to borrow more than 25% of their tution, they shouldnt have a huge dept when they graduate." - kenny                                                                        about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                                                        • "the central bank loan program will replace the AUB loan program" - Kenny                                                                          about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                                                          • Kenny is talkng about the history and process for reviewing policies.                                                                            about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                                                            • VP Kenny will be explaining the changes and the decisions made to the tuitions and financial aid                                                                              about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                                                              • "we owe it to our selves to maintain a respectful dialougue" - dorman                                                                                about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                                                                • president dorman is introducing the dialouge and is speaking about the money donations made to aub                                                                                  about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                                                                  • dean kisirwani asks of the audience to maintain the character and the reputation of AUB the                                                                                    about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                                                                    • i will be tweeting updates throughout this hour for those of you who want to know more about the issue!                                                                                      about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                                                                      • mhijazi is at the general meeting hosted by the AUB President to discuss the tuition increase issue with the students.                                                                                        about 3 hours ago via mobile web
                                                                                      AUB Beirut class LAU Lebanon news Protest students twitter
                                                                                      Written by Mohammad Hijazi

                                                                                      About the author

                                                                                      Mohammad Hijazi is a marketing strategist, trainer and speaker based in Dubai. He has trained more than 25,000 professionals across 45 countries and writes here about brand, growth and communication.

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                                                                                      Comments

                                                                                      dayana tamer said…
                                                                                      thank you so much for reporting and I still do not think that this will benefit us in anyway nor will it benefit our kids in the future.
                                                                                      May 18, 2010 at 11:12 PM
                                                                                      Anonymous said…
                                                                                      for your information , moudz , the speaker that annoyed you so much by "screaming" all the time has been working on this protest for almost two weeks now just so that students like us could get an affordable education at AUB. and maybe it will interest you to know that this guy is a graduate student ( he graduates this june btw) that is working on his thesis (but this week is not because he's apparently working on what you've found so annoying). He gains nothing if the 15-credit policy is revoked but still he's working on it for students like us. So even if you do not care about this whole protest show some respect for those who do.
                                                                                      May 19, 2010 at 5:31 PM
                                                                                      Mohammad Hijazi said…
                                                                                      I don't care if he is the president of the world, he is not good at public speaking. He was screaming his words, and it was very annoying. It was not smart of the protest organizers to use him as there organizers because he was rude to the officials, wasn't talking very well and addressing the vice president as if he was a child.

                                                                                      It doesn't matter if he is has a Phd, he is not a good public speaker, and I was showing him more repsect that he showed to the VP and the provost.
                                                                                      May 19, 2010 at 6:33 PM

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