Vassar College Refugee Solidarity

VC Refugee Solidarity is not about “hand-outs for refugees” as some might label it. This is also about us, and the values we so proudly assert in the name of the Liberal Arts. Given the escalating, and hateful rhetoric about Muslims, migrants, and refugees in our own country since the terrorist attacks in Paris, San Bernardino, and most recently in Istanbul and Burkina Faso, we are even more determined in our conviction that institutions of higher learning have a vital contribution to make in this humanitarian crisis. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are now approximately 60 million refugees worldwide, and more than half of them are women and children. This refugee crisis is the largest movement of people since the displacement, deportation, and forced resettlement of millions of people during and after the Second World War. We must, more than ever, emphasize our shared humanity, and highlight how concerted action can help us rise above the differences, disputes, and divisions that seem to separate us.