$33M to boost efforts to rescue scholars endangered by natural disasters, war

Natural disasters and global conflict can have a devastating effect on education institutions in affected regions, leaving educators, researchers, and other scholars with few opportunities to continue their work. A $33 million gift from trustees to the Institute of International Education’s Scholar Rescue Fund (IIE-SRF), which has served scholars impacted by natural disasters and war since Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution, will significantly improve the organization’s ability to ensure endangered scholars can continue their studies and research in safety, The Washington Post reports. 

Since 1919, IIE, an independent nonprofit organization that administers the State Department’s Fulbright Program, has rescued thousands of scholars in Nazi Germany, apartheid South Africa, Afghanistan, and other regions where they have faced political persecution and other threats. In 2002, IIE created the Scholar Rescue Fund (IIE-SRF), “the only global program that arranges, funds, and supports fellowships for threatened and displaced scholars at partnering higher education institutions worldwide,” the organization says. 

IIE-SRF used to ask for donations whenever a new global crisis emerged, but in the last five years, the organization has received more applications for help than at any other time in its history, IIE’s chief executive, Allan E. Goodman, tells the Post. 

“We’re going to be doing this on a global basis, unfortunately, for a very long time,” he says.

A space for academic freedom

Professors, researchers, and public intellectuals apply and are vetted for IIE-SRF fellowship support so they can continue their studies and share that work with students, colleagues, and the community at partnering host education institutions (including Georgetown University). These host partners, such as the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Cornell University, have provided a safe space for scholars, including those fleeing Nicaragua; Afghanistan after the Taliban took over the country; and Gaza, where war has destroyed all its universities, the Post reports. Since its founding, IIE-SRF has supported 1,134 scholars. Scholars may return to their home countries if conditions improve so they can make meaningful contributions to their societies. 

“To me, the ability to host scholars under threat and to work with IIE is really core to the entire mission of higher education and the mission of the university,” Wendy Wolford, vice provost for international affairs at Cornell, tells the Post. “It’s about providing a space on campus for academic freedom for those who don’t have it, and an ability for them and for us to be able to engage across very different perspectives, very different experiences. It has been an incredibly enriching experience for the campus.”

Refugee and displaced scholars can also apply for the IIE Odyssey Scholarship, which covers tuition, housing, and living expenses for students pursuing bachelor’s or master’s degrees. Since its launch in 2021, the scholarship has been awarded to 130 applicants.