LAU New York Launches the Cedar Dialogues

November 2, 2026

In front of a packed audience seated in the newly renovated LAU New York lecture hall, LAU President Chaouki T. Abdallah officially launched the Cedar Dialogues.

President Abdallah and LAU New York Executive Director Dr. Barbar Akle welcomed Dr. Bernard Haykel, professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University, to the LAU New York Debbane Campus in Midtown Manhattan to deliver the inaugural Debbane Lecture. Special guests included Chairman of the Board of Trustees Mike Ahmar, Former Board Chairman Philip Stoltzfus, and Carla Debbane, representing the Debbane family.

A new intellectual and cultural platform, the Cedar Dialogues brings Lebanese scholars, artists, and changemakers to the global stage, fostering critical conversations on the issues shaping our world and future. The series was made possible through the generous support of the Raymond Debbane Family Foundation, as part of a landmark gift to transform the LAU New York Debbane Campus into a dynamic hub connecting the LAU community across Lebanon, New York, and the world.

Reflecting on the university’s dual identity as both a Lebanese and an American institution, President Abdallah noted that LAU’s “identity is a dialogue.” President Abdallah emphasized that LAU New York’s role as a bridge between the two countries makes it an invaluable forum for urgent and timely discussions. While Lebanese and other regional voices are sometimes excluded from conversations about the issues affecting them, President Abdallah described the Cedar Dialogues as offering “a place where the Middle East does some of the talking.”

A renowned scholar of the politics, culture, and history of the Gulf states, Dr. Haykel inaugurated the series with his lecture, “The Future of the Middle East Between Revisionist and Status Quo States and Ideologies.” Examining the evolving geopolitical landscape, Dr. Haykel described the conflicts and trends shaping the region and the role of the United States in these dynamics.

Drawing on his personal connections to actors across competing fronts in the region, Dr. Haykel offered the audience a nuanced perspective on the forces at play. He described this ability to engage with different groups as his occupying a “liminal position between groups,” allowing him to provide insight into a region undergoing a consequential period of change, in which “alliances are shifting and strategies are recalibrating.”

The Debbane Lecture serves as the Cedar Dialogues’ flagship annual keynote, opening each season’s program of conversations. Building on this inaugural event, LAU New York will soon host discussions spanning a range of subjects, from history, fine arts, and fashion to gender, civil society, and entrepreneurship.