Lebanonwire, February 28, 2003

The Daily Star

After almost two years of disruption, the renovation of the American University of Beirut’s West Hall ­ home to student groups, the student union, the campus newspaper, the theater and a central nerve of college life ­ has finally been completed.
Monday saw a grand reopening of the building, which was originally built in 1914, attended by faculty members, student club representatives and family members of the late Professor Robert Haldane West, for whom the hall is named.
“During the two years of rebuilding, our students lost their essential meeting point, which was West Hall,” an AUB press officer told The Daily Star after the ceremony.
Many new students who had arrived at AUB over this period never actually knew West Hall.
“I heard a lot about it, that it was the cultural and political center of AUB, but I never actually had the chance to ‘discover’ it because it was closed for renovations,” Sarah Abu Diab, a junior student said.
West was a prominent member of the AUB faculty in the early years of the college. He came to the then Syrian Protestant College in 1884 to teach Mathematics and Astronomy, and went on to serve as principal of the Preparatory Department, director of the observatory, treasurer, and finally as dean of the School of Arts and Sciences.
And the hall is one of the few buildings which has not changed its original purpose.
“West Hall has always played a major role in forging the students’ personality,” Maroun Kedrwani, dean of students said, “with the presence of 35 academic clubs in it, as well as 10 student organizations, seven student committees and a newspaper ­ all of which train the students’ ability to discuss, plan and organize information.”
During the ceremony, AUB President John Waterbury spoke about the history of the building and the memories that this special place holds in the heart of all AUB-ites.
“West Hall has always been the heart of this university,” graduate student Lina Hnidi said. “I think it was such a good decision to renovate it, because it was in really bad condition. It’s wonderful now, especially the Bathish theater hall.”
The new Bathish Theater seats 600 and was named after Souhail Bathish, a one-time AUB student who graduated as a civil engineer from AUB in 1959. Born in 1935 in Nazareth, Bathish passed away in May 2001; his family covered the restoration fees of the theater.
The theater had previously been the center of Beirut’s theatrical community but was badly in need of a refit. It is now the most technologically enhanced and up-to-date theater in Lebanon with a revolving stage and a 75-track sound system.
Speaking of days gone by, when the theater was in extensive use by many different groups, a 60-year-old former AUB student fondly recalled that “gala opening nights were something special to see, with all the ladies in evening gowns and the men in tuxedos.”
Since its initial construction 88 years ago, West Hall has hosted many conference rooms, a library, a restaurant, a multipurpose room for different activities, a darkroom to develop films, a playroom, a small skating arena, billiard tables, a bowling space, student lockers and the theater.
“This is my favorite place on campus,” Naji Kazak a senior student said.
“AUB is never AUB without its heart, its West Hall.”

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