On the 28 of september 2017, dozens of American University of Beirut students staged a protest over the cancellation of monthly stipends for graduate teaching assistants. “They’re forcing us to not have a stipend and also not work outside AUB,” Nadim Haidar, one of the organizers of the protest, told The Daily Star. “What that means is that you can only get into AUB if your parents can pay for you [to go].”
Protesters gathered around noon in front of the university’s iconic College Hall, handing out bread and hummus in a mock breadline to dramatize their financial situation, amid chants of “feed the graduates” and “help us help you.”
Graduates were formerly paid monthly stipends of around $133, but these were revoked at the end of the spring 2017 semester.
AUB Dean of Students Dr. Talal Nizameddine told The Daily Star that the stipends were revoked in order for the money to be used more effectively to fund research and to expand the graduate teaching assistant program.
This protest was the second step in a process undertaken by graduate assistants to put pressure on AUB, having already communicated with the administration via official channels and circulated a petition calling for an increase in the overall stipend amount and the option to accept work opportunities outside of the GA program. The petition garnered over 700 signatures.
Date of incident
سبتمبر 28, 2017
Death toll
0 person(s)
عدد المصابين
0 person(s)
موقع
Ras Beyrouth
Primary category
Collective Action [inc. protests, solidarity movements...]
Classification of conflict (primary)
Conflicts of socio-economic development
