As the Iraq war rages on, access to higher education for Iraq’s undergraduate students has become nearly impossible. Thousands of professors have fled the country, classes are frequently canceled, and students face daily threats of violence and kidnapping. Educators in the U.S. and Syria are in the process of launching The Iraqi Student Project: a program to bring Iraqi students to participating U.S. colleges and universities to complete their studies. So far the program has recruited 20 students who will soon enroll in 14 colleges in Illinois, California, Connecticut, Iowa, New York, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Missouri, Washington and Maryland. For the most part, students at the participating schools have expressed enthusiasm about the project. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison students recently approved a slight tuition increase to cover the costs of bringing five Iraqi students to campus, and other participating schools such as Union College are holding fundraisers to cover the costs of the students’ housing and tuition fees. The project’s coordinator says she has met with little opposition, aside from a few unsubstantiated fears that the program will invite potential terrorists into U.S. schools.

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