US embassy cable - 05KUWAIT2037

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 002037 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO, OEXC, SCUL, OIIP, KIRC, XF, KU, Public Diplomacy 
SUBJECT: AMERICAN CORNER OPENS AT AUK 
 
 
1.  Summary:  The Ambassador and President of the American 
University of Kuwait (AUK) officially opened the American 
Corner at AUK on Monday, May 9.  In addition to opening the 
American Corner, the Ambassador visited with students at 
the campus library coffee shop and at AUK's career fair. 
The Ambassador's visit to AUK received extensive positive 
press coverage. View pictures of the opening at: 
HTTP://KUWAIT.USEMBASSY.GOV/PRESS_RELEASE_05- 09-2005.HTML. 
End Summary. 
 
The American Corner at AUK 
-------------------------- 
 
2.  The Ambassador and the President of AUK, Dr. Shafiq Al- 
Ghabra, opened the newest American Corner in Kuwait.  The 
American Corner overlooks the Gulf from the second floor of 
the glass-enclosed AUK campus library and currently 
features two computers, and about 250 books.  AUK's Library 
Director thanked PAS staff, saying that the collection was 
outstanding and that many of the books, which would not 
have been part of AUK's regular collection, would offer 
great insight into U.S. culture, history, society and 
politics. 
 
AUK American Corner; Audience and Library 
----------------------------------------- 
 
3.  AUK is a new private university in Kuwait, in its first 
year of operation.  The target audience of the American 
Corner will be primarily the AUK student population, which 
is estimated at being 70% Kuwaiti.  The current enrollment 
is 500 students.  AUK aims to increase enrollment by 500 
students per year until reaching 2,000 students.  Next 
fall, 1,000 students are expected to attend AUK. 
 
4.  AUK's library and therefore, the American Corner are 
open to the general public.  Though the general public will 
not be able to check out books from the corner collection, 
they will be have access to view the materials and make use 
of the supervised internet connections. 
 
5.  Additionally, the AUK library has included the Corner 
collection as part of its general computerized catalogue 
system under the label, "ACK."  Any student at AUK who 
finds a book that they would like to use from the 
collection will know that it is part of the American Corner 
collection.  Likewise, any catalogue user would be able to 
find a book in the Corner collection, if searching by 
topic, through the library's central computer catalogue-the 
first such integration of an American Corner collection 
into the general collection catalogue in Kuwait. 
 
Sit-Down With Students at the Coffee-Shop 
----------------------------------------- 
 
6.  Following the ribbon-cutting ceremony, student 
librarians showed the Ambassador and AUK President the 
catalogue system and usinfo.state.gov bookmark at the 
computer station.  The Ambassador and AUK President then 
held a discussion with the press.  The AUK President 
thanked the Ambassador for the Corner and for cooperation 
between the Embassy and AUK and the Ambassador 
congratulated Dr. Al-Ghabra on making AUK a strong academic 
institution in such a short period of time. 
 
7.  The Ambassador and AUK President then had an informal 
discussion with AUK students at the Library's coffee-shop. 
The new student-government president briefed the Ambassador 
on AUK's recent student elections, Kuwait's first elections 
where no groupings were allowed, where candidates held open 
debates on issues, and where a female student ran for 
President (though she did not win).  The eager students 
questioned the Ambassador on visas, Lebanon, Iran, Women's 
rights, free trade and other issues. 
 
8.  Finally, the Ambassador and PAS staff attended AUK's 
first career fair, where the Embassy had a table promoting 
jobs at the Embassy for local staff and studying in the 
U.S. 
 
Press Coverage 
-------------- 
 
9.  The American Corner event received positive press 
coverage, including pictures of the Ambassador and AUK 
President with students, in the following Kuwaiti daily 
newspapers (with language and estimated circulations 
included): 
- Al-Anba, 5/10/05, p. 4, Arabic, circ. 40,000 
- Al-Qabas, 5/10/05, p. 12, Arabic, circ. 65,000 
- Al-Rai Al-Aam, 5/10/05, p. 8, Arabic, circ. 70,000 
- Al-Seyassah, 5/10/05, p. 5, Arabic, circ. 45,000 
- Al-Watan, 5/10/05, p. 5, Arabic, circ. 65,000 
- Arab Times, 5/10/05, p. 2, English, circ. 40,000 
- Kuwait Times, 5/10/05, p. 1 and 24 (3/4 of a page of 
pictures) English, circ. 35,000 
- The Daily Star, 5/10/05, p. 19, English, circ. 15,000 
 
10.  Press coverage featured quite diverse headlines from 
the Corner opening, AUK Career Fair, and especially from 
the Ambassador's sit-down discussion with AUK students at 
the library coffee-shop.  Headlines focused on visas (Al- 
Rai Al-Aam), American culture (Al-Seyassah), the 
realization of women's political rights in Kuwait (Al- 
Qabas), cultural exchange (Al-Watan), Lebanese 
demonstrations leading toward democracy, not chaos (Al- 
Anba), understanding America better (Arab Times), and 
students getting a taste of the "real world" (Kuwait 
Times). 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
11.  The American Corner at AUK will be a valuable tool for 
reaching the youth audience at AUK and the general public 
which uses the library.  Though AUK students are viewed as 
pro-American, this is not necessarily the case, as many AUK 
students are non-Kuwaiti and many Kuwaitis do not 
necessarily remember the liberation of Kuwait or have 
positive views on aspects of American policies in the 
region or on aspects of American society and values.  The 
Corner will allow additional programming, including 
lectures on American society and culture which will 
significantly increase the understanding of Kuwaiti youth 
toward American culture and values-as has been the case in 
American Corner programming at Kuwait University which has 
received high marks from Kuwaitis and American lecturers 
alike. 
 
LEBARON