BEIRUT: As the sun set over Beirut’s beautiful seafront Saturday, the American University of Beirut opened its 142nd commencement ceremony to award degrees to more than 1,700 undergraduate and graduate students.

While traditional proceedings at the beginning of the ceremony stressed the academic strength of one of Lebanon’s most prestigious institutions, this year’s commencement created a festive vibe on the 144-year-old campus.

Stilt walkers dressed in Venetian costumes and drummers on AUB’s Green Field performed, celebrating the success of the students while also marking the start of the long journey before them.

Addressing the audience, which included families and friends of the students as well as political officials, AUB president Peter Dorman spoke of the significance of this year’s commencement, situating it in the region’s popular uprisings.

“The implacable Arrow of Time is passing through this moment and this place, leaving one world we know very well and flying toward another one that we know little of.”

The president told the students that they are graduating at a momentous time in the history of the Arab world. “But we know that many of you may well have a voice, if not a direct role, in shaping the societies of tomorrow that will emerge from the troubles of today,” Dorman added.

Dorman, AUB’s 15th president, said the goal of the regional struggles is the recognition of “human dignity.”

Although some public demonstrations in the “Arab Spring” were peaceful and others violent, Dorman said all of them share deep commonalities, which are evident to the people in the Middle East.

“Yearning for participation and accountability in government, the elimination of flagrant favoritism … access to more jobs and resources … and personal empowerment,” Dorman said, are the demands raised by demonstrators, many of whom are unemployed youth.

Speaking on behalf of the students, vice president of the University Student Faculty Committee Ali Sheet said that tolerance is a key virtue learned by students at AUB.

“Though our [Lebanese] history has shown us that tolerance has not been its main element, the students of the American University of Beirut have shown otherwise,” said Sheet.

Economic and social challenges await the graduating students, and many of the graduates expressed mixed feelings on whether to remain in Lebanon.

Jason Henoud, who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, prefers to continue his education abroad rather than work in Lebanon.

“Although I am currently working … I am about to quit and go to Paris for a masters,” he told The Daily Star.

But Omar Heraki, a graduate who pursued studies in Public Administration, plans to stay and work in the country because he has found a number of opportunities.

“I am going to start an internship with CSC Bank … surprisingly I found a lot of career choices for what I have graduated in,” he said.

Other students said that they would prefer to earn their master’s degrees before working in the field of their expertise. “I am a graduate of psychology but I have already started working as a manager of a restaurant,” said Dyala Tannir, who plans to work for three years in order to pay for graduate school in psychology.

Prior to the awarding of undergraduate and graduate degrees, Dorman awarded five Lebanese and foreign individuals with honorary doctorates. The recipients were honored for their service to the world through science, art, governance and journalism.

One recipient was Ireland’s former President Mary Robinson, who also served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights after her term as president.

Speaking during the commencement, Robinson called on the students to remember their duties to the community. “Think about it. You need to know you have duties to the community, and do something about it, or you will not reach your full potential,” she said.

Other recipients of an honorary doctorate were Egyptian Professor Mostafa el-Sayed, an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Lebanese composer and veteran musician Marcel Khalifé, former AUB professor of Astronomy Owen Gingrich, who currently serves as professor emeritus of astronomy and the history of science at Harvard University, and The New York Times journalist Anthony Shadid, who is well known for his coverage of the Middle East.

A sixth recipient of an honorary doctorate decided not to attend the commencement ceremony, following a petition organized by faculty members and students at AUB.

The honoring of Sir James Wolfensohn, former president of the World Bank, would according to the petition, “symbolically undermines AUB’s legacy in the struggle for social justice and its historical connection to Beirut, Palestine and beyond.”

But in a letter to students, Dorman said that Wolfensohn had long worked on behalf of the Arab world and had worked toward finding a peaceful solution to the Arab Israeli conflict.