LAU’s independent candidates experience firsthand corruption: here’s what happened
Campus Policy Analysis by Taleen El Gharib, Staff Writer
October 18th, 2020
In October 2019, the Lebanese American University’s student council had only a total of 4 independent candidates in Beirut and Byblos combined.
This year, nearly one year after the October 17 revolution, all independent candidates won a seat in the student council, with 9 out of 15 in Beirut and 5 in Byblos — a total of 14. For years, student council elections were doused in the domination of sectarian parties on campus, but they have officially been uncrowned.
Nader Akoum, Cabinet and Founding Member of “Bedak Tghayir” touched on his decision to run as an independent candidate 3 years ago: “Ever since I realised that politics is a daily life endeavour, has to do with every decision we’re making in this country and very essential to be involved in, I decided that I wanted to be involved as an independent.”
He also added: “A lot of mental and physical abuse comes with running as an independent. We have been building our credibility over the past years, and finally, the people trusted us. We are ecstatic to get to work and ensure all of our candidates are serving the student body.”
Other independent candidates gave The Phoenix Daily exclusive and detailed statements about their experiences during the election period.
Thomas El Khoury (AKSOB in Byblos): People are starting to understand that all these political parties do is give us empty promises, and they have trapped us in this loop that was gradually killing us year after year.
When I announced that I was running as an independent candidate—the first independent candidate running in the Adnan Kassar School of Business in Byblos—I began receiving phone calls from private numbers bullying and harassing me. This was apart from the cyberbullying I was subjected to from people creating fake accounts on social media.
It even got to the point where LAU’s LSF (Lebanese Student Front—a politically affiliated group of students), faked screenshots of posts I commented on related to a certain political party 8 years ago (when I was 12 years old), claiming they were recent. When I informed LAU about what I was experiencing, they did not answer any of my emails.
They were, however, constantly contacting me about removing the word “independent” from my campaign.
Lynn Al Shami (AKSOB — 60 credits & above in Beirut): Being independent to me is not having any ulterior motives and just satisfying only a certain group of people. I took part in the elections last year as well, and I was so innocent back then. I had no idea that I would be exposed to dirty politics and such levels of corruption.
Private numbers would call people helping me with my campaign and feed them rumours about how I wasn’t really independent, when that’s all I stood for all my life.
There was an instance where I reposted something on my personal Instagram account about a candidate leaving the office of a certain political party. I was called several times a day by the Dean of Students, Raed Mohsen, to take it down.
I do believe LAU has been trying its best to create very fair, democratic atmosphere. I do not blame the institution for what happens during elections, but I also think they are subjected to external pressures.
Jad Panjarian (Arts & Sciences — 0-59 credits in Beirut): I was overwhelmed when I saw the games the LAU administration was playing to silence us. According to them, claiming that I'm an independent implies that I'm attacking others saying that they are not, but we all know that there is some truth to that. The university saw some pages on social media endorsing and supporting us and they translated this into group campaigning - which isn't allowed during elections. The university is aware of the politically affiliated candidates' methods of buying votes from students (such as pay students' parking subscriptions, raise their financial aid, etc.).
Despite its knowledge of these issues, the university decided to aim their authoritarian power at the independent candidates threatening them with disqualification, leaving who for the student council? The politically driven candidates? This can easily be translated to the notion that the university is indirectly supporting political affiliation, but that is merely a claim from a perspective.
Nagham Abou Zeid (Arts & Sciences in Byblos): The cyberbullying, harassment and smear campaigns were overwhelming. As the president of the Gender and Sexuality club, politically affiliated students used past posts on social media that I posted for sexual awareness out of context and began to slut-shame me.
We had an issue of censorship when it came to the campaign videos. All the LSF candidates had their campaign videos uploaded, while mine wasn’t because I was censored. I was asked to omit the word “independent” from my introduction, remove the part discussing internal political conflicts and corruption on campus, and the part where I blatantly addressed how some LAU professors sexually harassed students. I was threatened with disqualification if I posted the campaign video without omitting all of these parts.
Nagham was very vocal about her struggles as an independent during this year’s elections, and has since received a lot of support, despite all of the negativity from politically driven candidates and not having a campaign video. The results were more than fulfilling, as Nagham managed to get 52.15% (291 out of 558) of all votes out of the 4 candidates—more than the 3 other LSF candidates combined.
The importance of having a student council, a privilege not many universities grant, goes way beyond creating a healthy atmosphere and better overall life on campus. Student council elections are a miniature version of much greater events on much larger scales—the Lebanese Parliamentary elections. Politics on campus among students reflects the path the youth is paving for the future, and the existence of politically driven students and candidates is a good indicator of whether or not our community has progressed and successfully diverged from the disease-like mentality of partisanship. Obviously, change does not occur overnight, but the developments the current youth are working to materialise are very promising.
The independent candidates have successfully unseated what once was a normal political division at LAU.
Although the university is described as a “secular American university”, the political atmosphere among students remains aggressive and driven by certain political agendas. The efforts that the administration put into protecting or defending the independent candidates was little to none. The toxic Lebanese political scene has snaked its way on campus and comfortably settled in the system. Independent candidates have experienced bullying and harassment (verbal, mental and physical) for years. It is unclear whether the corruption was irreversibly locked into the system to the point where the university chose to ignore their never-ending struggles and pleas, or the administration itself was subjected to external pressures from certain political parties.
The way the university addressed violations was quite lacking. All reported and documented election violations, including those pertaining to candidacy, are supposed to be investigated and acted upon according to the Student Council Election bylaws and Student Code of Conduct.
In the 2nd section of Article III of LAU’s Student Code of Conduct under Harassment and Discrimination:
2.1.34. Harassing, intimidating, threatening, or coercing (verbally or through any means of communication) a member of the University community.
2.1.35. Bullying a member of the University community, including but not limited to bullying or harassment through any form of social media.
2.1.36. Using any form of media, including social media, to falsely accuse, libel, defame, or smear the reputation of a member of the University community.
The independent candidates experienced all of the above violations of the Student Code of Conduct. Thomas El Khoury said in his statement that he had informed the university about what he was experiencing, but they seemed more concerned with removing the word “independent” from his campaign. Such violations could lead to suspension upon first offense and expulsion upon second offense.
According to the Discrimination, Harassment and Sexual Misconduct Policy, LAU is responsible for “taking action when it has clear notice that discrimination, harassment, or sexual misconduct has taken or is taking place to stop the conduct, prevent its recurrence, and remedy its effects”. Any forms of harassment should be reported to the Title IX Office.
Candidate Nagham Abou Zeid contacted the Title IX office, the president, the vice president and the deans regarding the censorship and loopholes in bylaws that were in favour of politically affiliated students.
“They called me and they gave excuses,” she said. “But the call was made during the silent period. Nothing could be done by that time anyway.”
Clearly, it is not enough for independent candidates to dominate the Student Council, as the issue persists on a fundamental level. LAU should be working to ensure that they are preventing such violations for the safety of their students and their reputation as a so-called “secular American university”. This negligence is unacceptable, but unsurprisingly represents a small-scale model of how Lebanon functions as a country, where censorship and negligence come naturally in response to violations.