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For Immediate Release: September 20, 2004
Contact: Tom Krattenmaker
610-328-8534
tkratte1@swarthmore.edu
http://www.swarthmore.edu/news/

Swarthmore College is hosting two students from Belarus this year whose university was recently closed by the former Soviet republic's government. More than a dozen colleges and universities around the country are hosting a total of 19 such students. Swarthmore is one of two colleges in Pennsylvania to do so; the other is Cabrini College, which is hosting one.

"These were students without a home and we thought it the right thing to do," says Dean of Admissions Jim Bock '90. "We're glad we can be part of the solution while also promoting cross-cultural understanding and the study of the liberal arts."

Anastasia Herasimovitch and Yuliya Savitskaya, who arrived on campus less than two weeks ago, both had completed three years at the European Humanities University in Minsk, Belarus, before it was shut down last month. "There's no way we can continue our education back home," says Savitskaya, a psychology major. "This is a really huge chance for us, but really challenging, too."

The challenges began when the students learned their university had been closed. Both were already in the United States on work-study programs, but only with plans - and visas - to stay through the summer. Instead, they had barely a week to to quit their jobs, pack up their belongings, and fly to Toronto in order to apply for new visas. Once allowed back into the country, they took a 13-hour bus ride to Philadelphia, arriving at Swarthmore on Sept. 2. If they want to remain for both semesters, they cannot return home, even for the holidays.

"I always dreamed of studying in the United States," says Herasimovitch, who studied international law in Belarus and for one of her Swarthmore classes has already helped register people to vote in Chester, Pa. "If we had prepared for this, it would be great. We enjoy life here, but not knowing the future is very hard."

This is not the first time in its history that Swarthmore has hosted students whose education has been interrupted by government action. As president of the National American Student Relocation Council during World War II, Swarthmore President John Nason helped liberate more than 4,000 interned Japanese-American students from the War Relocation Authority's camps and found places for them in 600 colleges and universities around the country, including Swarthmore.

The Belarusan students are supported at Swarthmore by assistance from the U.S. State Department and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The project is administered by the Washington, D.C.-based American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS.

Details about the closing of European Humanities University were reported in the August 6, 2004, issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education.