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Yahoo!The New School University in New York announced yesterday the launch of the New University In Exile, a program to provide small grants and visas to scholars from Iraq. The program is inspired by the University In Exile, a New School program that rescued over one hundred Jewish scholars from Nazi Germany beginning in 1933.
“As in World War II, scholarship today faces one particular crisis that dwarfs all others,” said New School President Bob Kerrey. “In Iraq today, almost four hundred scholars have been assassinated, and most others have been sent into permanent exile. Iraq’s universities, libraries, museums, and archeological sites have for the most part been completely destroyed. The scale of devastation places it among the worst tragedies in all history.”
The New School will make available small grants to scholars, facilitate visas, and provide shared office space with New School faculty members.
Mr. Kerrey acknowledged that the program faced significant challenges. “The situation for Iraqi scholars today is even worse than for Jewish scholars in 1933, but it’s our doing this time, and so the available funding is a whole lot less. It’s psychologically easier to help people when one’s tax dollars aren’t instrumental in killing them, which is probably also why there’s more concern for the victims of Darfur than of the much larger crises in Iraq or the Congo.” But we’ve got to do what we can.
“While the academic riches of Iraq will never be restored, and its archaeological sites, museums, and libraries will remain a mere memory, the academic community must attempt to in some small measure make amends for what our country has done, and do what it can to save the scholarly heritage of a nation,” Mr. Kerrey said.
The New School hopes to be joined in the effort by other universities anxious to live up to their stated ethical aims.
Glad to see The New School stepping up and going back to its roots.
Comment on November 13, 2008 08:59 am