In the latest example of academia thumbing its nose at the new White House administration, Massachusetts’ Wheaton College announced it will be offering a full scholarship to “a refugee fleeing war and violence” — with preference given to those from countries targeted by President Trump’s recent executive order.
The Hill reports that Wheaton President Dennis Hanno “argued the importance of allowing international students to study at U.S. colleges and universities.”
“This new [immigration] policy implies that international students are neither needed nor wanted. This is false, and we must counter that divisive message,” he wrote in a January 31 statement to the school.
Not surprisingly at all, Hanno turned it into a diversity issue:
To promote our mission, we announce today our intention to offer a full scholarship to a student refugee from a war-torn country with a special preference from one of the following countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
At the same time, we urge our country’s leaders to end swiftly the ban on welcoming refugees and foreign nationals to sustain the productive exchange of ideas and viewpoints that make our institutions of higher learning such fertile ground for expanding knowledge and hope.
We call on our colleagues at institutions of higher education across the country to join us in making a clear statement about the importance of diversity and openness on our campuses. By providing scholarship support to refugees from these countries, we extend the hand of opportunity and friendship to those who need it most and offer a model to our nation for more constructive engagement with the world.
Wheaton is a tiny private institution located in the town of Norton — not to be confused with the religious Illinois school of the same name which a year ago dealt with controversy when one of its professors claimed that Christians and Muslims worship the same god.
Read the full Hill piece and President Hanno message.
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