AUB Students Unease at ex-World Bank Chief Honorary Degree
Lecturers and students at the American University of Beirut (AUB) have launched a petition against honoring former World Bank president James Wolfensohn, accusing him of supporting Israel.
The petition, entitled "Not in our name: AUB faculty, staff and students object to honoring James Wolfensohn," had by Wednesday garnered the signatures of 90 faculty members and was being rapidly disseminated on Facebook.
It calls on the Lebanese university to revoke its decision to grant an honorary doctorate to Wolfensohn, who is also scheduled to give the keynote address at the university's commencement, or graduation ceremony on June 25.
"We believe that honoring Mr. Wolfensohn... symbolically undermines AUB’s legacy in the struggle for social justice and its historical connection to Beirut, to Palestine and beyond," reads the petition.
It details Wolfensohn’s alleged links to Israeli companies and accuses him of being "an investor in an Israeli company developing transport infrastructure for illegal Jewish-only settlements built in the occupied West Bank."
The petition also said that Wolfensohn is a "standing member of the international advisory of the Israeli Democracy Institute."
Contacted by Agence France Presse, an AUB spokesperson said the university had no immediate comment but confirmed Wolfensohn remained the keynote speaker and a doctorate recipient "up until now."
Wolfensohn, an Australian-born naturalized U.S. citizen, could not be immediately reached for comment.
The international investment banker and financial adviser served as president of the World Bank from 1995 to 2005 and is currently chairman of his own firm, Wolfensohn and Company.
In past years, several artists and writers have had to cancel scheduled performances in Lebanon amid controversy over their alleged ties to Israel, which ended a 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000.
Lebanon remains technically at war with Israel and has vowed to be the last Arab country to sign a peace agreement with the Jewish state.
Source: Agence France Presse
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