Skip to main content.
OSUN Menu
Education sub-menu
Education
OSUN Courses
Faculty
Graduate Programs
Certificate Programs
Mobility
Teaching
Birkbeck Summer School
Center for Liberal Arts and Sciences Pedagogy (CLASP)
Developing Teaching Professionals
Experiential Learning Institute
Global History Lab
Global Teaching Fellowship Program
GLOBALED
Curricula
CORUSUS
Economic Democracy Initiative
Experimental Humanities Collaborative Network
Global Studies
Hannah Arendt Humanities Network
Human Rights Program
Liberal Arts and Sciences Collaborative
Policy Labs
Professional Development Program for University Administrators
Strengthening the Core
Transnational Feminism, Solidarity, and Social Justice
Research sub-menu
Research
Research Projects
Community Engaged Research
The Democracy Institute
Economic Democracy Initiative
GEOHUB
Global Institute of Advanced Study
OSUN Forum on Democracy and Development
Research Creation Initiative
Senior Projects
Fellowships
Chatham House Academy Fellowships
Global Scholars Academy
Past Projects
Global Observatory on Academic Freedom
Open Society Research Platform
Access sub-menu
Access
Teacher Education
Enhanced Network Teacher Education Capacity
Hubs for Connected Learning Initiatives
Education Pathways
Collaborative for Liberal Education for Adolescents
Consortium for the Liberal Arts in Prison
Hubs for Connected Learning Initiatives
Microcollege for Just Community Leadership
Civic sub-menu
Civic Engagement
Student Engagement
Get Engaged Conference
Global Commons
Global Engagement Fellows
Engaged Learning
Certificate in Civic Engagement
Community Engaged Liberal Arts and Sciences
Community Engaged Research
Engaged Senior Projects
Experiential Learning Institute
OSUN Science Shop
Solve Climate by 2030
Academic Freedom sub-menu
Academic Freedom
Initiatives
AltLiberalArts
Invisible University for Ukraine
Smolny Beyond Borders
Threatened Scholars Integration Initiative
Institutional Partners
American University of Afghanistan
Parami University
News sub-menu
News + Opportunities
Newsroom
Current News
News Archive
Events
Current Events
Events Archive
Opportunities
For Students
For Faculty
Archive
Student Fellows and Ambassadors
Resources sub-menu
Resources
OSUN Resources
Academic Technology Guides
Blended Learning Toolkit
Digital Collection
Digital Case Studies
Digital Course Collection
Student-Produced Videos
About sub-menu
About
About OSUN
Our Vision
Who We Are
What We Do
Member Institutions
Themes
Annual Report
Branding
Search
Search
News & Events Menu
News & Events Menu
Newsroom
Current News
News Archive
Events
Current Events
Events Archive
Opportunities
Current Opportunities
Opportunities Archive
OSUN News
View all news
OSUN's Jonathan Becker Discusses Progress in Aiding Afghan Scholars in Latitude(s) Newsletter
Courtesy of Mohammed Rahmani via Unsplash
This article was originally published in Karin Fischer's
latitude(s)
newsletter.
Heartbreak and What You Can Do: How Higher Education Can Aid Afghanistan
An Afghan student studying abroad fears for the safety of siblings still at home. A university president works to evacuate students from Afghanistan and find them places to study. Higher-education groups raise emergency funds.
As the precipitous and tragic crisis in Afghanistan unfolds, students, scholars, and researchers are vulnerable. For years, the Taliban has targeted academics and universities in its attacks. In particular, it has opposed the education of women and girls.
Some American colleges are erasing any mention of past collaborations with Afghan colleagues from their websites or social media out of fear that such western ties could make them Taliban targets.
Jonathan Becker
, the acting president of the American University of Central Asia, has been scrambling to try to get endangered students out of Afghanistan. “The stakes are high for all students but especially for young women who won’t be able to pursue higher education under the Taliban,” he said. “These are women who are smart, who are empowered, who are extraordinary.”
Working with the Open Society University Network and Bard College, where he is also vice president for academic affairs, Becker has persuaded universities to host displaced students and raised tens of thousands of dollars to pay for chartered airplanes. Bard will take as many as 100 students as well as threatened scholars. But a big challenge remains: how to get visas for the students to go to other countries.
In recent days, Becker got some good news: The government of Kyrgyzstan, where AUCA is located, has pledged to issue 500 visas to students from Afghanistan. Now, he hopes other countries will do the same. “It’s a sprint to get these students out.”
I’ve also been in contact with Afghan students who have shared heartbreaking and harrowing stories. One student who is studying abroad told me how much she worries about her sisters who are still in Afghanistan; they have lost their chance to study, to work, to live their lives, she fears. Another told me that her family has gone into hiding. “We are not sure about tomorrow,” she said.
I hope to tell you more about these amazing students, but for now, they worry that revealing even minor details could put their families at risk.
One of them asked me to appeal to you: Urge your elected officials to advocate for the presence of troops in Afghanistan, she said. Lobby the U.S. government not to recognize the Taliban government unless it guarantees human rights and women’s rights and refrains from persecutions based on ethnicity, gender, language, and religion. Ask humanitarian and media organizations to remain in Afghanistan.
Through Bard College, OSUN is now accepting
scholarship applications
from students from Afghanistan who are experiencing displacement.
Read the full article in latitude(s)
Post Date:
08-30-2021