The Trustees of the American University of Beirut are shocked and dismayed by the news of the assassination of Dr. Malcolm Kerr, President of the university.

The entire AUB community extends its deepest concern for the sorrow borne by the Kerr family and offers its condolences during this time of bereavement. Dr. Kerr exemplified the modern educator spirit, which was one of self-sacrifice and total commitment. Undaunted by the difficulties he faced, he persevered toward the goals and aspirations of the mission of AUB: to educate and to heal.

The Board of Trustees pledges to continue its commitment to education, reason, and persuasive dialogue as the sane alternative to violence, assassination, terrorism, and despair.

Through the death of Dr. Malcolm Kerr, the motto of the school takes on greater meaning: "That They May Have Life, and Have It More Abundantly".

New York, January 18, 1984

From the moment of his birth until the morning of his tragic death, the life of Malcolm H. Kerr was intertwined with that of the American University of Beirut. Malcolm Kerr was born in the American University Hospital on October 8, 1931. His father, Dr. Stanley Kerr, originally from Hopewell, New Jersey, was a Professor of Biochemistry at AUB for a total of forty years. His mother, Elsa Reckman Kerr, at one time served as the Dean of Women. All of their four children were born in Beirut and attended the American Community School. At the age of fifteen, Malcolm was sent to Deerfield Academy in western Massachusetts to complete his high school education. Malcolm Kerr was accepted to Princeton University, where he earned his B.A. degree in 1953 with a major in Political Science. He then rejoined his family in Beirut and began his graduate studies at AUB. After obtaining his M.A. in Arab Studies in 1955, he traveled back to the United States to study for his doctorate at Johns Hopkins University. One year later, he married the former Ann C. Zwicker of California, whom he had met while he was a graduate student at AUB, and while she was there as a Junior Year Abroad student. In 1958, he received his Ph.D. in International Relations and once again returned to Beirut, this time to begin his teaching career.

From 1958-61, Dr. Kerr was an Assistant Professor at AUB in the Department of Political Science. In 1962, he accepted a similar position at the University of California at Los Angeles, with which he remained affiliated for the next twenty years. He became an Associate Professor in 1963 and spent an additional year at AUB as a Visiting Associate Professor from 1965-66. In 1967, he was named a full Professor at UCLA, and that same year, was also selected to be Chairman of the Department of Political Science. From 1973 to 1976, he was Dean of the Division of Social Sciences, and then spent one year as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the American University in Cairo. Upon his return to California in 1977, Malcolm Kerr became the Director of the Von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies, named after the noted scholar on Middle Eastern affairs, Gustave Von Grunebaum. In 1978, he was chosen to be a member of AUB's Board of Trustees, and the following year, he served as Director of UCLA's Education Abroad Program Study Center in Cairo.

From 1981-82, Dr. Kerr spent what was to be his last academic year at UCLA, for in March of 1982, he was elected as the ninth President of AUB by its Board of Trustees, effective on July 1st. Dr. Kerr did not assume his new post until September of 1982, because of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon that summer. Kerr carried out his responsibilities at AUB's New York office until the beginning of the fall semester. He served as President of AUB for one and a half years until he was killed on January 18, 1984 in College Hall, the site of AUB's administrative offices.

Malcolm Kerr's outstanding teaching career was complemented with many memberships in other academic and professional societies. He was a Fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation of St. Antony's College at Oxford University from 1961-62, and a Fellow of the American Research Center in Egypt from 1964-65 and again from 1976-77. He was a member of the Committee on the Near and Middle East of the Social Science Research Council in 1963-64 and from 1968-70, and became a Fellow of the Council in 1970-71, studying in France and Tunisia. In 1971, he was elected President of the Middle East Studies Association (M.E.S.A.), the largest organization of professors and scholars of Middle Eastern affairs. In 1969, he became a member of the Board of Directors of AMIDEAST (American Mideast Educational and Training Services), located in Washington and formerly known as the American Friends of the Middle East. Finally, he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Middle East Institute, also located in Washington.

Malcolm Kerr was the author of innumerable articles on Middle Eastern affairs, but his principal works in the field include the following books:

The death of President Malcolm Kerr has evoked outrage and grief from American and Lebanese officials, university representatives, academicians, alumni, and civic leaders. The AUB campus itself was officially closed for five days of mourning. Other schools and universities throughout Lebanon were also closed on the day following the assassination as an expression of their sympathy. Dr. Samir Thabet, AUB's Vice-President for Academic Affairs, was named Acting President. His immediate reaction to the senseless killing was: "It's another tragedy, but we are determined to carry on." The Board of Trustees held an emergency meeting in New York the afternoon of January 18th, expressing their "shock and dismay", yet pledging to continue their commitment to "education, reason, and persuasive dialogue".

On the Lebanese scene, President Amin Gemayel, immediately condemned the murder and conveyed his condolences to the Kerr family. The Minister of Education and Defense, Issam Khoury, termed Kerr's death as a "blow against education and culture in this country, and a great loss for Lebanon, for the university community, and for the United States". Former Prime Minister Salim EI-Hoss declared, "The death of Dr. Kerr, who was known for the depth of his knowledge and high moral standards, has shocked us. "

Press coverage in the United States was enormous, and AUB officials were interviewed on several nationwide news programs to discuss the continuing mission of the university. Najeeb Halaby, appeared on "The Today Show" and the "MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour" the day of Kerr's death. Halaby hailed Kerr as a "modern missionary" who had volunteered "to teach and to heal" for the sake of American ideals. He stressed that AUB's mission was to substitute "reason for violence", and that the AUB campus had remained a virtual haven from the surrounding turmoil in Lebanon. Vahe Simonian, Vice-President for Development, in North America, appeared on the "CBS Morning News" one day after the assassination. As a longtime friend of President Kerr, Simonian described the unique qualities which had made Kerr so dedicated to his profession and so well loved by his students and colleagues.

In Washington, President Ronald Reagan strongly condemned those who killed Dr. Kerr as "despicable assassins". Reagan described Kerr as follows: "He was a highly respected member of the academic world and, as President of the American University of Beirut, worked tirelessly and courageously to maintain the principles of academic freedom and excellence in education."

The Lebanese Ambassador to Washington expressed his indignation as well. Dr. Abdullah Bouhabib, an AUB graduate, asserted that President Kerr had become a target because of his 11 success in keeping AUB outside of the factional fighting and its doors open to everyone".

Lebanese and American professors at AUB were dismayed by the loss of their university's leader. Dr. Kamal Salibi, Chairman of AUB's History Department, declared, "Malcolm Kerr was a friend of Lebanon, a friend of the Arabs, and a friend of Islam. He had a vision for AUB to be a great institution at a time when it was very difficult for anyone to have such a vision." Edwin T. Prothro, Director of AUB's Center for Behavioral Research and a close friend of Kerr's, remarked, "Kerr knew his life could be in danger, but he took the job anyway because he loved this place and wanted to build it into something special. In the end, he was killed not for who he was or what he did, but for what he symbolized to others who never even knew him."

Dr. Michael Hudson, Director of Georgetown University's Center for Arab Studies, not only expressed his sense of personal loss at the murder of Dr. Kerr, but also labeled Kerr's death as an "institutional loss" to AUB, and a "national loss" to both the United States and the Arab World. He stated, "Kerr was one of the most respected interpreters of the Arab scene in the United States." Hudson was in Beirut at the time of Kerr's death and was to have met with him, in fact, on the day he was assassinated.

In conclusion, AUB alumni throughout the United States were equally outraged at Kerr's murder, Mohamed Baghal, President of the AUB Alumni Association, addressed a letter to all alumni, former faculty, and staff currently residing in North America, praising Kerr as a "fine scholar and a true gentleman". Baghal wrote, "Dr. Kerr personified the spirit of several generations of American educators totally committed to the service of the Arab people." (The full text of Baghal's letter appears on the back cover.)

Many alumni also wrote letters to the editors of their local newspapers. One such letter was addressed to the Los Angeles Times on January 28th by Dr. H. John Shammas, President of the Southern California Chapter of the AUB Alumni Association. Dr. Shammas wrote, "Dr. Kerr was a superior academician, an outstanding educator, and an example of moderation and reconciliation in our society. Dr. Kerr will be greatly missed by his fellow alumni of the American University of Beirut."

January 18, 1984

"It was with the greatest shock and sadness that we learned early this morning of the death of Dr. Malcolm H. Kerr, President of the American University of Beirut, who was a highly respected member of the academic world, and who, as President of the American institution in Lebanon, worked tirelessly and courageously to maintain the principles of academic freedom and excellence in education.

His work strengthened the historical, cultural, and academic ties between The United States and Lebanon and other countries of the Middle East. Dr. Kerr carried on a family tradition. He himself was born in Beirut to parents also dedicated to the service of mankind.

Excerpts - December 3, 1983

... I should like to share with you some of my thoughts about our situation. Of course all of us at AUB are worried. Traces of last year's optimism are hard to find. Fresh violence has killed thousands and rendered hundreds of thousands homeless. The businesses and jobs of the Lebanese have been steadily shrinking. Many have left the country.

What about us?

AUB has always prided itself on its ability to weather the storms raging outside its walls. Lebanon and the surrounding region have passed through a prolonged era of upheaval. AUB was never immune to the issues involved, but it was always able to carry on, thanks to a wondrous mixture of divine grace and the respect it commanded in the community.

... Besides avoiding physical destruction, our main objective must be to maintain our academic and moral standards. We must preserve our professionalism and our social conscience. That is how we will retain our own character and also contribute something of value to Lebanon. When the storm has passed and the chance to breathe has returned to the country, we will want not just to survive, but to tell ourselves that it was worth surviving because we helped the Lebanese conserve their cultural and social virtues.

To do so we must do two things: offer solid academic instruction, and set a good example. This is likely to require considerable adaptivity.

... The important thing is to ensure that our teaching remains serious, well organized, and caring, so that our students learn how to teach themselves, which is the essence of good university instruction and that they learn the value of mutual respect among strangers, which is the essence of good citizenship.

Simultaneously we must strive to preserve the quality of our students' extracurricular life, remembering that in the American educational tradition what happens outside the classroom may be as important as what happens inside. We insist on primary attention to the student's mind, but we are really after the whole person.

... To face the future, then, we may have to develop a simpler life style at AUB and concentrate more on the fundamentals than on the frontiers of learning, while showing the students that we remain interested in them as people. If we do these things well, we will strengthen our own morale, conserve our faculty, and continue despite all handicaps to be the best university in the Middle East. More than that, we can perform the mission in Lebanon that is so sorely needed, defined for us by Daniel Bliss a century ago: "That they may have life, and have it more abundantly."

THE A. U. B. ALUMNI ASSOCIATION OF NORTH AMERICA, INC.

January 26, 1984

Dear Friends,

I am certain that we all share the untimely loss of our President, Dr. Malcolm Kerr. His tragic death brought great sadness to every one of us. We have lost a good friend and a loyal colleague. The entire AUB family extends its deepest sympathies to his wife, Ann, and the Kerr family.

Dr. Kerr personified the spirit of several generations of American educators totally committed to the service of the Arab people. He was a fine scholar and a true gentleman. He was, indeed, a valiant soldier in the pursuit of knowledge, truth, tolerance, and the promise of a better tomorrow. His qualities were endearing, and his loss immense.

Dr. Kerr was always proud to be a member of the AUB family and was dedicated to building stronger relationships among the alumni. He greatly cherished the company of the alumni and always hoped that they would rally behind their Alma Mater in these days of extraordinary difficulty.

We are all determined to keep Malcolm's memory alive. At this particular time, we must give AUB all the support we can, as never before. With kindest regards, I remain,

Sincerely,