Joseph E. Aoun finds the traditional view of higher education as a tower too confining. For the president of Northeastern University in Boston, college is a time for students to engage with the world in all its complexity and diversity.
Born to a Christian family in Beirut, Aoun grew up in the city's cosmopolitan atmosphere of the 1950's and '60's. The linguistic scholar collaborated on his first book with a Muslim and a Jew before leaving Lebanon to study and work in France, and then earn a Ph.D. at MIT.
"The United States is the only nation in the world where you can be hyphenated."
"In other places they want you to assimilate. Here they say, 'We want you to bring your roots to play a role in the life of the city, the state, and the nation.'"
As a dean at the University of Southern California, Aoun brought the Shoah Foundation to campus, launched institutes for Korean studies and Armenian studies, and began work on African-American and Latino institutes.
Since arriving at Northeastern in August 2006, Aoun has expanded an existing program called Dialogue of Civilizations, which sends students and professors to universities abroad. Recently, one group studied in Israel and another in Cairo with plans to meet at Mt. Sinai.
"In many ways universities cannot simply be a mirror of what is. Universities should be a model of what you can do."
Aoun recalls an incident in which the university had paired two students from nations divided by historical enmity. One father asked the school to find a new roommate for his daughter. She resisted, explaining, "I like the person."
