College responds to Trump’s order with refugee scholarship
BOSTON — A liberal arts college in Massachusetts has created a refugee scholarship in response to President Donald Trump’s order on immigration and refugees and is calling on other colleges to do the same.
Wheaton College in Norton announced the offer after the Republican billionaire issued his Jan. 27 executive order, suspending America’s refugee program and halting immigration to the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries. On Saturday, the U.S. government suspended enforcement of the ban a day after a federal judge in Washington state temporarily blocked it.
College President Dennis Hanno said the scholarship is meant to demonstrate that Wheaton embraces its foreign-born community, even as the White House moves in the opposite direction.
“We value the different perspectives people from all around the world bring to Wheaton,” he said, noting that about 18 per cent of the college’s 1,650 students hail from more than 70 different foreign nations. “It’s about wanting to take immediate action to preserve that environment we’ve created here.”