Evergreen gives Iraqi student aid

By Venice Buhain | The Olympian • Published April 01, 2008

OLYMPIA – A student from Iraq might get a chance to finish his or her college education at The Evergreen State College.

The college has pledged to waive the tuition for one student if the Iraqi Student Solidarity Committee, a group of Evergreen students, can raise the money for nontuition expenses, both groups reported.

The cost would be an estimated $10,000, which would include in-kind donations and would cover two years of housing, medical insurance, travel and books, said Ashley Harrison, a recent Evergreen graduate who is helping with the committee.

"We have to show the ability of the program to be sustainable, so the student doesn't end up going back," she said.

Evergreen is one of about 15 colleges nationwide taking part in the national Iraqi Student Project, which will screen Iraqi students who cannot continue their college education because it was disrupted by the Iraq War. The Chronicle of Higher Education last year reported that many Iraqi professors and students have fled or been kidnapped or killed since the start of the Iraq War, which makes research and scholarship difficult.

"There's a crisis of educational access," Harrison said.

The student would receive the waiver by being admitted through Evergreen's normal admissions process, including by taking the Test of English as a Foreign Language, Evergreen academic dean Ken Tabbutt said.

The national Iraqi Student Project would direct the students to colleges that match their interests or with programs similar to what they were studying in Iraq, Tabbutt said. The group is trying to raise the $10,000 by June 30, because that will give the school time to process the application for fall.

The program is similar to a program in the mid-1990s, when students from Bosnia were admitted to colleges throughout the United States, including Evergreen, during the Bosnian War.

Andrea Robbins, a student on the committee, said Evergreen students learned about the national program during a talk sponsored by Students Educating Students About the Middle East.

Robbins said the group also has enlisted help from outside of the Evergreen community, including the Rachel Corrie Foundation, which will accept donations toward the project.

Harrison said that directly helping a student get his or her degree will have a positive effect on the Evergreen community.

"A lot of people are ready to welcome somebody from Iraq, and they want to help out," Harrison said.