Lebanese universities are “ready and waiting” for Arab students who might flee the United States to avoid the backlash against Muslims after this month’s terror attacks in New York and Washington. During the Cabinet session Monday, Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was quoted as saying that “universities and all educational institutions have been instructed to provide the necessary facilities to Arab students seeking admissions.” According to Leila Dagher, director of admissions at the Lebanese American University, instructions have been given by the university’s president “to provide all the facilities and to accept, without delays, any late comers from the United States.” Dagher said that approximately 30 students ­ mostly Saudis, Kuwaitis and Jordanians ­ have already been accepted into the university. She added that hundreds of students were calling and sending faxes and e-mails asking for information and the possibility of enrolling for the current semester. “We are trying our best to facilitate their transfer,” Dagher said. “For example, we understand that acquiring official records could take some time so we are accepting copies.”
However, Dagher asserted that “this doesn’t mean that we will compromise our standards.” She added: “Anyone who is eligible for acceptance in LAU will be accepted without delay.” According to Dagher, some of those currently applying had applied and been accepted by LAU before and chose to attend universities in the United States instead. However, with the rising anti-Arab sentiment in the United States, many of them have changed their minds. The American University of Beirut will also be accepting latecomers from the United States according to Peter Heath, the university’s provost. “We will accept any student who fulfills the university’s academic requirements,” Heath told The Daily Star. While no official applications have been received, AUB staff maintained they were receiving phone calls from students asking for information about the possibility of attending the university. According to an article published in one daily newspaper, the Toledo Blade, about a dozen international students, mostly from the UAE and Kuwait, have informed university officials of their intent to drop out of school and return to the region.
Two dozen Arab students have left the University of Missouri and the University of Colorado, Denver, and up to 30 students from Arab countries have left California State University. In contrast, Bowling Green State University, Ohio State University and the University of Michigan have reported none of their 8,000 international students leaving for security reasons. A recent report on CNN said that universities across the United States have become “a focal point of anger directed against Arab-American, Muslim and Southeast Asian students in response to last week’s terror attacks against the United States.” CNN reported that female students have been spat at and had their traditional hijab, or headscarves, pulled off, while male students have been targeted because of their beards and have had their turbans plucked from their heads. The report also quoted Altaf Hussein, the president of the Muslim Students Association of the United States and Canada, as saying: “People have yelled, ‘you people are going to die, the holy war has begun, go home’.” Also according to the CNN report, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee said that it had compiled a list of more than 250 violent incidents on campuses in the last week “from direct threats of specific violence to beatings, assault and battery.” The report added that a Boston University student had been stabbed in the back early Sunday. The library walls at Colorado University were spraypainted with anti-Arab messages saying “Arabs go home” and “Nuke sand niggers.” “University is a dangerous place to be in for people perceived as Arabs and Muslims right now,” CNN quoted Hussein Ibish, the director of ADC, as saying. Of the 570,000 foreign students in the United States, 40,000 come from Arab countries according to the American Council for Education.