In an exclusive first interview since taking office last month, the American University in Cairo's new president, Dr Thomas Bartlett tells Fatemah Farag how education can still open the windows of opportunity, even in times as hard as these Click to view caption It would seem that fate has decreed that Dr Thomas Bartlett must assume the presidency of the American University in Cairo (AUC) only in the most politically sensitive times. In 1963, during the heady days of Nasserist socialism and anti-American sentiment in Egypt, Bartlett became AUC's fourth president at the age of only 33. This year, in the wake of 11 September and all the horrors it continues to generate for the Middle East, he returns as interim president for the academic year 2002-2003, following the resignation of John Gerhart for health reasons. "I didn't choose it that way," he told Al-Ahram Weekly with a soft laugh. However, in the end he agreed with my interpretation. "It is especially at times such as these [post 9/11] that those of us who have much experience and a long-standing attachment to Egypt, who are concerned about the people on both sides of the world, take an active role." When it was suggested that Bartlett return to his old job in Cairo, both he and his wife Molly were initially uncertain. "I am much too old for this, and I was happily retired." But his sense of duty won out. "I believe this is a time when all hands should be on deck, as they say. One must be ready to do what must be done, to maintain communication." Much of Bartlett's life and work has been devoted to such communication. And it is with obvious trepidation that he reacts to my mention of the latest US measures relating to the entry of Arab nationals into the US. "I think this is a very short-sighted policy, and I cannot believe it will last that long. There has been a lot of over- reaction in the United States, and many mistakes have been made. But a year is not that long, and I hope this policy will not remain. One must have hope. As Churchill once said: 'There is no operational utility to pessimism'." Bartlett hopes his students will grasp the nettle and take their chance, trusting in the underlying possibility of the world. "Arab students travelling to the US will face the fear of the uncertainty of what might happen. There will be the annoyance of the new procedures. But I encourage them to go. In actual practice, the opportunities that have always been there are still there today." As Bartlett himself points out, it is an open secret that many in the United States do not accept the policies and arguments of the current regime. Universities in particular have been a focus for protest. "In Oregon, Portland State, where I come from, students have been very active demonstrating against US policy. Their attitude indicates both a concern and a desire to learn. A student coming from the Arab world can expect to be harassed in both ways: there are the procedural issues, but there will also be people who are constantly questioning him or her, asking them to become involved." Bartlett's analysis of the aftermath of 9/11 also has its positive, pro-active side. "The attacks made such a powerful impact -- not just the extent of the damage, but the uncertainty they left behind. It will take a while for people to deal with that. It makes the relative importance of institutions such as ours all the more clear. We are an institution with wide cultural roots." However, as he is quick to point out, "AUC has always had a special role. It has always seen itself as a 'bridge' which people cross in both directions. A significant number of Americans -- maybe not enough -- come here to learn about Egypt and the Middle East. If you look at the people who teach Middle East-related studies in the US, you will find that a large number of them have studied here. We are a major training facility in that sense. We also bring a different style of education to Egypt, that enhances its higher education capacity." But while Bartlett is keenly aware of the role AUC does and can play in increasing communication between people from very different cultures and contexts, he warns that the institution he now heads is not just a permanent conference on inter-cultural understanding. "Those events take place, but just because they happen does not make them our focus. We take those events within the stride of doing what we are supposed to be doing: opening the windows of opportunity, through an English-language education programme, scientific research and scholarly work." It is the Egyptian people who are the main beneficiaries of the fact that AUC is first and foremost an educational institution, argues Bartlett. "There are close to 70 million people inhabiting the Nile Valley today. The only way Egypt can sustain itself is by dealing with the rest of the world, not by building a wall around itself! And to reach out to the rest of the world, English is essential. How else can you do business with the Far East, for example? You have to be exposed to the same kinds of ideas and sources of information as the rest of the world, in order to develop the skills that can match an economy that has become global." Bartlett's passion is deep rooted. He is known as the man who in 1963 launched the process that finally in 1974 culminated in the Ministry of Education recognising AUC's degrees. He is also remembered for the first serious effort to attract Egyptians to fill important faculty and administrative positions, the separation of the economics and political science majors, and the establishment of a graduate programme in management and mass communication, not to mention the acquisition of the Greek Campus. Reflecting on the 1960s, Bartlett waxes literary: "Those were the best of times, and they were the worst of times. The university developed both in size and, more importantly, in quality of education provided. We expanded the campus. At the same time, there was constant tension. We [AUC] were very much an anomaly. Educational institutions were either nationalised or in some way illegal. We were given the status of specific exemption." Yet, despite the difficult political situation an American institution must have found itself in, they pulled through. "One of the great things about Egyptians," says Bartlett, "is that they differentiate between people and their governments. I always felt that I was judged as an individual, and not as a representative of the US government -- which of course I am not." And hence, while outsiders must have assumed that those were dangerous times, Bartlett does not remember them that way. He received positive support from the presidency, and often conferred with Mohamed Hassanein Heikal. "He was always very helpful. As were many others," he recalls. "Our job is education, and this is in Egypt's interest. We [AUC] are not the agent of a foreign power. I think that people have recognised this over the years. After all, 80 per cent of our student body is Egyptian, as is virtually all of the staff." And so it is with striking candour that Bartlett highlights "the strong feelings of AUC students -- like students all over Egypt -- regarding current events: feelings that are deeply antagonistic to American policy." Yet he does not see this as a contradiction. Unlike other AUC representatives who, when queried on this point over the years, have often seemed uncomfortable, Bartlett is quite at ease with demonstrations of protest. "I do not find it inappropriate that students are concerned. We [AUC] have not and would not do anything to stem that. I insist that such activity be acceptable to security, and not destructive in any way. But that is the detail of tactics. If I were an Egyptian student, I would be very concerned, and I would not hesitate to be very critical and demonstrate that criticism in public ways." His understanding is the product of a long association with the land of the River Nile -- an association that came about entirely by "chance and accident". Bartlett holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Stanford and Oxford Universities. His postgraduate studies focused on international organisations, and more specifically the United Nations. After graduation, he became a member of the US Permanent Mission at the United Nations. "One of my responsibilities was to follow-up on Arab-Israeli issues. Some of the people working with me at the mission were members of the AUC Board of Trustees, but I did not know that -- there was no reason for them to tell me. Then, when the third president of AUC died of a heart attack, I was approached by those members to take his position." His first reaction was that the move did not make sense for him, since he had no special knowledge of Egypt at that time. However, he came over in April 1963 to visit Cairo, and by June he and his wife had settled there. They would stay for six years. On leaving Egypt in 1969, Bartlett moved on to positions that included president of the Association of American Universities in Washington DC, and president of Colgate University. He has also been chancellor of the University of Alabama System (1982-89), Oregon State System of Higher Education (1989-94) and the State University of New York (1994-96). In 1981 he became a member of the AUC Board of Trustees, and currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the United States-Japan Foundation, of which he was the chair through April 2001. To top it all, he also holds seven honourary degrees. He is a man strongly committed to academic excellence. His position with respect to the recurring debate on censorship is clear. "We shall of course follow the policy of the Egyptian government. As an institution, we always argue that censorship is self-defeating. After all, students vicariously live life without really doing it. Intellectual activity is trying things out in your head without actually doing them." It is sometimes said that because AUC students pay relatively high fees and are generally from the "elite", they are always able to get their own way. If materials are deemed unacceptable by them or by their parents, it might be better to do without them. Bartlett does not agree, however. "We must press hard against that. What can be thought about is not a matter that is up for the vote: no university could accept that. This is not a grocery store. Students are not purchasers, and faculty are not vendors. If we acted otherwise, we would not be doing our job, and parents and students should be unhappy. Faculty cannot abrogate their responsibilities by becoming merchandisers. If we allow the market jargon that we hear so often to become a reality, than we have lost our understanding of what education is really for." It is these high standards that make Bartlett confident in the value of what AUC provides. "We offer an educational experience that is worth the money, when compared to commensurate alternatives abroad. What is more difficult for us to deal with is that some parents would rather pay less and get less, and in both the country and the region, institutions have now emerged which are offering just that." Bartlett argues that parents should consider preparing their children not just for the first job they will get after graduation, but for the posts they will vie for when they are at the peak of their career. "There are two things that have always distinguished AUC: English skills, and our emphasis on critical and independent thinking, as well as problem solving. These develop habits of mind and behaviour that are very important. How many engineers wind up sitting at a desk doing design work? Very few. Most will be working in management, or require entrepreneurial skills. We could train people much more cheaply, but instead we choose to operate on many different levels. As a result, people learn much more." He highlights the great lengths to which AUC goes to provide students with extracurricular activities. The overhead costs of this choice are high. Bartlett knows that his educational philosophy is not easy for everyone to adjust to. "Higher education is not rote learning. There are no simple answers to anything. Students are required to think about questions and bring to bear experience gained in other contexts. This is a real transition the students have to make." Bartlett's interim year will once again give him the opportunity to be heavily involved in developing AUC's infrastructure; this time, through overseeing the growth of the new campus. "I have never seen a more careful and thoroughly inclusive design. Site work has begun, and we expect to hold a ground-breaking ceremony in February. We will also formally launch the fund- raising process, although that has actually been underway for some time now." Nor is it just international politics which affects the fates of such an institution. Bartlett confides that he wishes the stock market had not fallen by 40 per cent this year. "That came as a terrible blow to us. I also wish that we were not all holding our breath regarding developments in the region. But these are challenges that must be met." There is a rumour going round campus that students' present-day tuition fees are being used to pay for the campus of the future. Bartlett refutes this assertion. "We just opened a new building [New Falaki] which is very fancy and has increased current campus capacity by 30 per cent. Besides, I think it is important to point out that, while by Egyptian standards AUC education costs a lot, people are not paying the full cost of their children's education. This is a non-profit institution. Even the trustees do not get paid -- they are not stock holders. Everyone studying here gets some degree of subsidy, and one third of our total tuition budget goes on scholarships. We collect a lot of money, but the only place it can go is back into the programme." As I leave Bartlett's office, I pause to look at his oil painting which hangs outside, alongside the portraits of all the men who have held the post of AUC president. It is a painting of a much younger man, albeit one who was already bald. As the cats that have made the steps their home walk me down the sun-speckled stairway, I consider that as far as Bartlett may have travelled from this office, in one sense he has never really left. And I remember his parting words: "This is an extraordinarily interesting place. I tell my American friends, 'Everything you have heard about Egypt is true, and the contrary of everything you have heard about Egypt is also true.' In Egypt, it is easy to get emotionally involved. There is so much drama. Every kind of human experience is being acted out. For me, it is a great privilege to participate in all that, and to think of oneself as a small part of it. My connection with Egypt began by chance. The rest has been... fascination."
