
President Joseph Aoun (at the top center) delivering his inaugural speech at the Lebanese Parliament on January 9, 2025. Photo by Mohammad Yassine/L'Orient-Le Jour
Nearly two weeks after it resonated with many Lebanese, the inauguration speech of President Joseph Aoun has made its way into academia, serving as the basis for an end-of-semester exam at Saint Joseph University (USJ) in Beirut.
First-year law and political science students were surprised to encounter excerpts from Aoun’s speech, translated into French, in their exam. The speech marked the end of a two-year presidential vacancy in Lebanon.
The three-hour exam featured six detailed questions tied to themes studied throughout the semester. Among the prompts, students were asked to explain "why the president is committed to contesting the validity of any law that contradicts the Constitution," "what is meant by decentralization," and "why is sovereignty important," among other questions.
The exam content quickly circulated on social media, sparking broader interest. "The subject greatly interested the students. I even received calls from parents and alumni who were very enthusiastic," Lara Karam Boustany, a public law professor and former president of La Sagesse University, told L’Orient Le-Jour. She said she aimed to highlight a very unique speech, delivered at a pivotal moment in Lebanon’s history.
Marie-Claude Najm, the dean of the Faculty of Law and a former justice minister, expressed her support for the initiative. "It’s not uncommon for our exam topics to be based on excerpts from texts or speeches or to be drawn from local or international news," she told L’Orient-Le Jour. "It’s true that in this case, the proximity between the election date and that of the test, combined with the impact of the new head of state’s words, left a strong impression."
Exception and counter-example
During the parliamentary session on Jan. 9, Aoun drew attention with his positions on the state’s monopoly on arms, judicial independence, and other hopeful themes. His speech resonated in a country grappling with crisis since 2019 and enduring 15 months of conflict from hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
"The first-year constitutional law program covers the notions of state, sovereignty and conformity of the law with the constitution; all important concepts that were mentioned in the president's speech," emphasized Najm.
"It's a speech that touched our hearts and minds. The Lebanese found what they wanted to hear in this difficult context, even if one must be patient and realistic to see the follow-up to these commitments," she added. "In any case, the construction of a worthy state is the result of collective work that concerns all citizens."
For Boustany, the president’s words provided students an opportunity to explore themes where Lebanon often serves as "an exception or counter-example."
Students will find out in two weeks if they successfully grasped these concepts when their grades are released. By then, Lebanon could already have a new government, led by Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam, another figure embodying the spirit of reforms.
This article was originally published in French in L'Orient Le-Jour.