UniCouncil_1938-40_077

THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY AT CAIRO MIDAN EL ISMAIL! A, CAIRO, EGYPT OFFICE OF PRESIDENT April £6, 1939 My dear Mr, Reed, I am sending you herewith a communication addressed to the Board os also to the General Assembly and to our own Board of Trustee*. The reason is that a communication has come to us, likewise addressed to these three or* ganizatione in which the Synod of the Nile makes complaint of a u»st incidental item in the policy oi our institution ia reference to its rental of its hall to the Egyptian State Broadcasting Company for sor^e ei^;ht concerts a year which they have in connection with their general program. In these eight concert* they have featured a prominent Egyptian woman who is celebrated as a singer of Arabic songs* To these the Synod of the Nile has taitea exception and hence the action which they have placed on their r^oord and are sending forth to the organisations named. On the other hand our own institution, the American University, has given hours and hours of thought and study to this miiur and firmly be* lieves that there is a mistake in appraising the situation and that our courts ie altogether justified. It is largely a question of opinion with reference to pleasurable trograms* Our position is stated in full in the document which I enclose. I Naturally we regret nore than you can imagine that the Synod of the Nile has felt like going to such extreme lengths in condemning a sistor Christian institution. We have endeavored, as you will eee, to explain and justify our position end the only thing left now was tc insist on our freedom of action in the matter. We felt that since a formal letter t^d been sent by the Synod of the Nile we were under obligations to send a fennel statement of our position to the three organisations named. I I think you will see and feel that any wide public discussion of a matter like this which lies beyond the power of readers to appraise as it ia so far removed from themselves, would only do damage to the Kingdom of God both for the Synod of the Nile and for the work and reputation we oureelves have. It is not for us to try to side*track or shelve any legitimate public representation which they desire to make, but only yesterday afternoon I had a long talk with Rev. Wahby Boulus and understood from him that there was a feeling now prevailing that since the Synod had made its statement expressing its Judg-JBont, it need go no further with reference to publicity. I understand he is going to Imerica himself. If this is the attitude and spirit, of course we would be entirely pleased to have the whole matter dropped or filed away as h mere record of opposing judgments on a given subject. V6*®1**! SR* >rPOR*tED ,r WA8H.NGT0N. d. c. IN l.'B- -UT1VE OFFICE IN U. S. A. 20 LAND TITLE BUILD,NO. PHILADELPHIA. PA. »DTMENTS opened OLLEOE °f arts AND sc,ences SCHOOL OP ORIENTAL STUDIE