Post by Chaouki Abdallah

This past week, Lebanese American University celebrated the graduation of over 2,500 students amidst the challenges of war and incredible odds. Filled with pride and mixed emotions, I concluded my address to the graduates with the following: - One hundred years of this institution. - One hundred years of keeping the gates open. - One hundred years of teaching through wars. - One hundred years of caring for the wounded. - One hundred years of building when others destroyed. - One hundred years of believing that education remains humanity’s greatest act of hope. All of it was preparation for yours. To the Class of 2026: Take up your section of the wall. Take up your stewardship of the commons. Go and build. Build institutions worthy of trust. Build communities worthy of hope. Build a country worthy of your descendants. And go make hope and history rhyme.