On May 5, 2020, President Fadlo R. Khuri sent a message to the AUB community to say that, as a result of the collapse of the Lebanese economy and the global recession triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, “AUB is facing perhaps its greatest crisis since the university's foundation in 1866.” The university cut expenses substantially in all areas, imposing a hiring freeze, halting building projects, ending all but essential travel, and instituted other areas of cost-cutting.
Just four days after the president’s, on May 9, 2020, AUB launched a fundraising appeal, the third in less than six months, for an AUB Emergency Fund. Proceeds from this fund were used to support the most vulnerable members of our AUB community of students, staff, faculty, and patients, and help assure the survival of the university and its medical center. Contributions from our donors also made it possible for us to reduce the number of people we had to lay off significantly – and to provide a sliding scale of generous severance packages to all staff members who were laid off – far beyond what we were legally required to do.