Go/Refuge

Three weeks ago, I called for Middlebury to take action in combating the Syrian refugee crisis. While President Patton’s administration has not yet acknowledged this, both our community and the wider higher education community have. Last week, Jeff Holland ’19 wrote an op-ed publicly supporting this moral mission. He agreed with both facets of the twofold proposal – the idea of subsidizing Syrian refugee students in already-partnered universities and full scholarship and transportation grants for selected refugee students to Middlebury itself. He also pointed out the wider value of doing our part in this world crisis. He wrote, “When we [take action], hopefully other colleges and universities will follow suit,” an impact which cannot be understated. A mass movement of American higher education would dramatically improve the global situation. We are an example-setter; nothing we do exists in vacuum. By outrightly not taking humanitarian initiative, or even delaying it, we signal to other colleges and universities that remaining passive is acceptable. We signal that squatting on privilege – on our hill – disengaged from the less fortunate is okay.

Other institutions of higher education have taken action already. As noted three weeks ago, twenty different colleges and universities in the United States are already part of the moral initiative, including Bryn Mawr, Emory, Eastern Michigan, Miami and Brown. Since then, in only three weeks the movement has accelerated. More colleges and universities have actively joined the movement, while Middlebury has not. Trent University, to our north, has announced that it will welcome its first Syrian refugee student next year. The University of New Brunswick also stated that if they receive a formal request for refugees to be housed on its campus, it will do its best to fulfill that demand. While both are Canadian, and thus subject to less stringent barriers at a federal level, the movement has also expanded in the United States. Reverend John I. Jenkins, president of the University of Notre Dame, publicly welcomed Syrian refugees to the country on Thanksgiving. His words do not extend to actual movement in Notre Dame’s institution to help refugees, but such a declaration by a high-profile member of the community of higher education illustrates action regardless.

While Middlebury has not yet moved on this issue, we as a community can change this. We will not send the message that we are content to remain in our bubble. There is both awareness and support of refugee issues on campus, even beyond Holland. Amnesty International has been the prominent leader of the conversation. Their project as an organization this year is centered on the Syrian refugee crisis. The fruits of their labor have been evident periodically, like when the library front transformed with signs and posters displaying facts about the humanitarian nightmare of Syrian migration a month or two ago.

Other refugee-focused organizations also are taking action. Last week, an organization on campus concerned with North Korean human rights sent out its first e-mail to people who signed up for the e-mail list at the beginning of the year about a preliminary meeting. The club, along with the Chinese Club and Asian Students in Action, all advertised an event where Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) shared its work rescuing refugees.Non-student organizations like the Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs have also expressed deep concern, evident in the hosting of an international panel on the issue a month ago. We can safely say that there is support for moral action to help refugees in both official college departments (i.e. RAJ) and across at least four different student organizations.

I welcome all students, faculty, organizations and departments to engage in this conversation. Talk, argue, discuss. Both in publications, like Middbeat, beyond the green and our very own Campus, and among each other. For this purpose, posters have sprouted up advertising “go/refuge.” Go/refuge leads to a document showcasing our moral duty. It includes a petition. This is the platform for those who support this initiative but do not have the time to write an article to have their voices heard. If you support the idea of the College helping the Syrian refugees, sign it. It is time for us to act.