Historical Modes of Refugee Student Support: A Case Study of Smith College

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  In Roundtable Session: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Public Education

Abstract

This paper presents the history and experience of women from a refugee background enrolled at Smith College. Key data sources include institutional admissions records, presidential correspondence and communiques, student diaries, student newspaper articles, and articles of the Smith Alumnae Quarterly. This work represents close collaboration with staff members of the Smith College Library special collections, who authorized a travel grant to support archival research upon which this study rests, and who provided extensive guidance in appropriate evidentiary sources. In sum, an institutional case study of successful refugee student support is offered, which contests the prevailing narrative that higher education institutions in resource constrained environments are unable to provide extensive support to refugee students during the current displacement crisis.

Author

• Lisa Unangst, Ohio University