Andrea Robbins explains how the ISSC got things done

In Fall of 2007, a friend of mine named Hudson Muñoz approached me in Red Square. At the time, he was coordinating the student group sesame (Students Educating Students About the Middle East—now renamed the Mideast Solidarity Project). Hudson invited me to be part of a project that the group wanted to develop to have a student who had been displaced from their education in Iraq finish up at Evergreen for free. “I’m all about it,” I told him. I didn’t know then what I was getting myself into. Two years, seven committee members, and an additional 250,000 refugees later, a tuition waiver program that is being utilized exists at Evergreen.

It took a lot of organizing to get past the administrative obstacles. Over 900 students signed our petition, the faculty put it to a vote (we won) and collectively donated a total of $1,200 to the living expenses fund (I love you, Evergreen faculty). Eventually we prevailed, and a committee to install a waiver program was assembled. It was awesome; about three deans and other officially-titled people met with our group, and we created the first student-initiated waiver program for students from Iraq at a state college. BAM!

During the program’s conception, the language of the official waiver had to be manipulated to accord with state law so that it applies to students who have been displaced from their education because of “military conflict or national disaster.” We would have liked to make the waiver specifically refer to students who are Iraqi, but there is legislation that prohibits extending the funds of the state to persons based on sexual identity, national origin, etc.

However, we as a group had a way to ensure that the student who used the waiver was a student that we intended it for. All international students must have at least $8,000 in order to attend school at Evergreen, so our group raised over $10,000 to back a student from Iraq after they received the waiver. In order to raise the money and receive donations, we enlisted the help and 501(c)(3) status of the Rachel Corrie Foundation.

During the process of creating the waiver, we connected with a national organization called the Iraqi Student Project. The ISP works with students in Iraq who have decided to attend university in the States. They basically work with college administrations in the US to create waivers similar to the one at Evergreen. They have been successful only at private schools, with the exception of Evergreen.
In originating this project, our group came to the Center for Community-Based Learning and Action (ccbla) to find contacts in the community who could publicly support us in our endeavor. Those connections were essential to the success of the project.

In the end, the campus community and the greater Olympia community made the waiver program possible and financed the living expenses for the first student under the program. This waiver program now exists at Evergreen. All it would take to have another student finish school here from Iraq for free is some students willing to fundraise for living expenses… I’ll even help!

Thank you: Michael Clifthorne, Steve Hunter, Cindy and Craig Corrie, Molly Gibbs, Therese Saliba, Nina Triffleman, Tinashe Rusike, Dennis and Anne Mills, Andrew Birwari, Rana Shmait, Hudson, Ashley, my mom and dad, and the ISP…