Reflections on the rise and decline of AAUG.

AuthorAlnasrawi, Abbas
PositionAssociation of Arab-American University Graduates - Organization overview

AS WAS THE CASE FOR MOST IMMIGRANTS, Arabs immigrants needed a support system to help them adjust to the realities of the new country. Although immigrants from the Arab world already had a long history in this country, there were no national organizations capable of addressing their needs in the new environment. It is important to note that when the Association of Arab-American University Graduates (AAUG) came into being in 1967 there were no Arab-American organizations operating at the national level.

AAUG was created by a small group of Arab-American academics after the defeat of the Arab regimes in the1967 war. They felt the need to create a forum to study the causes of the defeat within the context of the Arab world and the impact of it on Arabs in America. Unlike any other Arab-American organization, the primary mission of AAUG became one of creating bridges to the Arab world through its publications, conferences and seminars. Because the new organization chose as its mission the educating of both Arab-Americans in this country and Arabs in their homeland, it became clear that almost all issues had political dimensions which had to be articulated. Additionally, and by default, the AAUG sought to protect the civil rights of Arab-Americans before the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) was formed in 1980. The negative stereotyping of Arabs' fallout from the 1967 war and thereafter threatened the status and rights of Arab-Americans, especially the more recent immigrants. Hence, AAUG became the organization to which Arab immigrants turned for help and guidance.

THE RISE OF AAUG

As soon as AAUG's creation became known, interested Arab-Americans started to become members of the new organization. These members came primarily from universities throughout the country. Most of these academics found that their professional organizations failed to address contemporary issues of the Arab world and its place in the world. By comparison AAUG had dedicated itself to dealing with the Arab world, and it tried to occupy a space for itself in the broader context of the United States.

Judging by the flow of its publications, the success of its annual conventions and contacts with Arab academics, the conclusion can be drawn that AAUG was very successful in its multiple tasks during the first two decades of its existence. Indeed AAUG was so successful that it was able to launch publication of a journal, Arab Studies Quarterly, and establish the Institute of Arab Studies [ultimately short-lived] as a think tank. Given the nature of the era and the political inclination of the early leaders of AAUG, it was to be expected that the new organization would be led by liberals, Arab nationalists and progressives. This in turn shaped the direction of AAUG as reflected in its publications, annual conventions and the structure of its membership.

AAUG's rather progressive orientation was well received by most Arab-Americans, and also by Arab scholars, academics, journalists and a number of politicians abroad. There were Arab-Americans who thought the organization should focus its attention on issues which concerned the community at large, such as business and economic matters that would expedite the process of integration into the American society and economy, rather than on Arab world issues. Those who advocated full integration felt AAUG was too political to be effective. The difficulty with this argument is that...

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