UniCouncil_1960_046

-5 - To the United Arab Re-public and the Middle East: The existence of the American University at Cairo is evidence of its intention to he of service to the Middle East* The institution is oriented to the interests of the Arab people* Its staff members, both Middle Eastern and Western, naturally reflect this inclination, and work as concerned friends * The forty years of life of the University bear witness to its basic orientation. Its program has never been insensitive to area influences and concepts® Program suggestions are and have been welcome from any source and have always been given careful consideration. While the University is American, it reaches out to the world from Egypt, not America, and therefore roots its curriculum in Egypt* (There is, of course, no attempt to make Americans of Egyptians or Christians of Muslims*) The deep and enduring traditions of Egypt and the Middle East are so woven into the University life that all foreigners coming into contact with it are instructed in these values and represent them upon their return to life in their home countries. The University mirrors the best of the Middle East, and the best of America* It is a quiet reminder that the great cultures of the world speak and listen to each other* The University serves by teaching students from the Middle East, who comprise eighty percent of its student body. 'This is obviously the first service. If it had no students, or if it failed to teach them, it could not be a university. Teaching is based on the convictions that all persons want to know about their world, -their neighbors and themselves, and tint such knowledge may lead to better life for both individuals and society. The University serves by engaging in research about the Middle East. Continuous research is necessary both to shed light upon the past and to discover additional insights into today’s problems of living. In these ways knowledge is advanced. The university in today's world is one of society's major instruments for the advancement of knowledge. The University serves by becoming an intellectual meeting ground. Students and teachers (in the non-credit adult program as well as in the degree programs) stimulate and help each other in the things of the mind* Furthermore, the international character of the University, with some thirty nations usually represented in the student body and ten in the teaching staff, leads to a cross-fertilization of concepts, concerns and convictions that helps Middle Eastern students live in the modern world, and may even lead to some overall enlightenment in the modem world itself* The University serves by meeting selected community needs* Through the contributions of individual faculty members serving on non-University committees and teaching in other institutions, as well as through lectures, forums, musical and dramatic events and through publications, the University influence moves beyond the confines of its campus into the community, keeping its identity as a university but dealing on a non-credit basis with broader cultural programs