Darwin and the Crisis of 1882 in the Medical Department

Cloth $25.00s    |    9953-9019-0-2    |   2005

The engrossing story of an extraordinary crisis that reverberated far beyond the shores of Lebanon as the first student protest in the Arab region.

Reviews
"Shafik Jeha's account of the ’Lewis Affair’ at the Syrian Protestant College (now the American University of Beirut) in 1882, the year of Darwin's death, is not only a fascinating tale in its own right, but is also relevant to our own times in its clash of liberal and conservative views of science, and in its student protests over academic freedom from which a group of Arab intellectuals emerged to carry the liberal message."
David A. West, author of Fritz Müller, A Naturalist in Brazil

"Covers a wide diversity of topics in the evolution of thought, education, institutions and society."
Jesuit Father Sami A. Khoury, Manager of the Catholic Press

Description
When chemistry professor Edwin Lewis praised Darwin's methods in his 1882 commencement speech at Beirut's Syrian Protestant College, he set off a fierce and extended battle over freedom of expression between liberals and conservatives that over the next few years caused nearly half the senior faculty to resign, many students to be suspended, and enrollment to plunge. Although the conservatives initially won adoption of a Christian "Declaration of Principles" mandatory for all faculty, it was repealed by 1902.

Author
Shafik Jeha is the author of The Lebanese Constitution: Its History, Amendments and Present Text, The Battle of Lebanon's Fate During the French Mandate, 1918-1945, and The Secret Arab Movement, 1935-1945.

7 x 9 1/2, 224 pages, appendixes, index, bibliography
Distributed for American University of Beirut Press