Students push CU-Boulder to offer scholarships to Syrian refugees

The newly formed University of Colorado chapter of Students Organizing for Syria is calling on the Boulder campus administration to award four-year scholarships to 10 Syrian refugees.

University officials, however, say that nationality-specific aid violates federal law and CU policy, and such scholarships cannot be considered.

The group continues to encourage CU students, alumni, faculty and Colorado residents to sign its online petition , which, as of Thursday afternoon, had collected 134 signatures toward its goal of 200.

"What we really want to have happen is for schools to be able to provide a full-ride scholarship — tuition, room and board, books," said Erna Lukac, 20, the founder of CU's chapter. "...Obviously, if you are a refugee coming from a country that is in turmoil, you don't have money to go to college."

Yet no matter how many signatures Students Organizing for Syria's Books Not Bombs campaign collects, CU won't endorse the project.

"We cannot publicly fund a scholarship intended only for residents of a specific country," campus spokesman Ryan Huff said. "With that said, we can work with private organizations that fund scholarships on this basis to reduce the tuition costs for CU-Boulder students."

A nonpolitical humanitarian coalition, Students Organizing for Syria was started primarily by Syrian-Americans, but welcomes everyone.

The Books Not Bombs petition drive has grown from 19 to 136 schools, mostly American, since its Feb. 1 launch. Students are asking their schools to join the Syria Consortium of the International Institute of Education, an alliance of schools committed to offering full or partial Syrian-refugee scholarships.

Shana Childs, the institute's media relations specialist, said other colleges have offered the types of scholarships CU is saying aren't possible.

"From what we have seen so far, it has generally not been a problem for universities to offer a few targeted scholarships, or tuition waivers, to assist students from Syria or other countries that face emergencies that restrict higher education opportunities," Childs said.

But Huff was insistent CU can't offer scholarships targeted solely to Syrians.

"I can't speak for other universities," he said, "but Title VI (of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) prohibits discrimination on the basis of national origin."

Huff said CU already offers three scholarships specifically for international students, including the El Mallakh Scholarship, which prioritizes students from the Middle East, Africa and developing countries. These scholarships are for continuing, not incoming, students, however.

The El Mallakh Scholarship is allowed under Title VI, Huff said, because it is open to all international students.

CU's two merit-based nonresident scholarships also are available to international students, he said.

For Lukac, a junior communications major born to a Bosnian Muslim father and a Croatian Catholic mother who met in a refugee camp, the push to help fleeing Syrians is intensely personal.

She arrived in Colorado as an infant. When she sees images of refugee children drowning, washing up on the shores of Turkey, it hits home.

"I think — that was me. That could have been me," she said.

Lukac founded the group as an outgrowth of a course she took last fall called "Campaigns and Revolutions." Now she's gathering signatures for a "Persuasion in Society" class project.

Until being contacted by a reporter, Lukac said she was unaware of CU's position on Syrian-specific scholarships. She said she'll look into other options, including whether scholarships could be offered to refugees without specifying their nationality.

"I believe that regardless of whether or not the scholarship only affects Syrians ... if CU is giving scholarships to refugees, it's still a win, regardless of their ethnicity," Lukac said.

Source: Students push CU-Boulder to offer scholarships to Syrian refugees