By James A. Baumann
Through years of crisis and turmoil in Afghanistan, millions of citizens were displaced across the country and beyond its borders. After the government collapsed in 2021, tens of thousands of Afghans were quickly evacuated to the United States. About 1,800 of those refugees were routed to Oklahoma, the third most of all U.S. states, behind only California and Texas. Of those, 72 went to the city of Stillwater, and, finally, 43 settled in apartments on the Oklahoma State University campus.
Considering the questions of liability, cost, and other issues, it might seem unlikely that a university campus would open itself up to hosting several refugee families, regardless of how supportive they were of the cause. Oklahoma State associate provost Randy Kluver and Leon McClinton, the director of housing and residential life, admitted there were extenuating circumstances that helped make it possible for them. For example, fewer students were living on campus due to the lingering effects of COVID-19, which opened up some apartments that otherwise would have been occupied by graduate students and their families. Oklahoma State had recently launched a new strategic plan that leaned into its responsibility as a land-grant university to serve the community. Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt was a vocal supporter of resettlement efforts, telling National Public Radio that he “welcomes Afghans fleeing the terrorist Taliban regime to come to Oklahoma and live in the freedom we hold so dearly.” Meanwhile, Catholic Charities of Eastern Oklahoma was a prominent supporter of resettlement programs, and a local church helped drive community efforts to collect food, furniture, clothing, and kitchen supplies in anticipation of the refugees’ arrival. Altogether, it was the quintessential “It takes a village” scenario.
“People always want to know how we were able to do this,” says Kluver. “I tell them we just kept asking if we could, and people kept saying yes.”
Oklahoma State is one of several higher education institutions across the United States that have lent their support to helping refugees from around the world start a new life. While these efforts often begin with meeting immediate physical needs like housing (more commonly, individual houses on or near the campus rather than student-dedicated housing), they expand to connect the refugees with additional community services to assist in their transition.
Every Campus a Refuge (known as ECAR) has become the established model for these efforts. The program was created in 2015 by English professor Diya Abdo at Guilford College. Founded by the Society of Friends, the institution’s Quaker values inspired the program to call on every campus to host one refugee family. “ECAR was founded on the firm belief that higher education has a significant role to play in refugee welcome, protection, and integration,” says Abdo.
The ECAR website lists 18 current chapters, including Wake Forest University, Washington State University, Old Dominion University, Clemson University, and James Madison University. Together, they have hosted hundreds of refugees from various countries. “ECAR has mobilized colleges and universities across the country to host refugees on campus grounds and support them in their resettlement. In doing so, these institutions transform the learning experience of their own students, who, in supporting a newcomer refugee family, are effectively studying abroad at home,” Abdo explains. “ECAR was an invaluable partner to us in helping to understand best practices as we sought to mobilize the university faculty, staff, and students to assist in this effort,” notes Kluver. “They offered resources, guidance, and encouragement as we were doing something that OSU had not done before.”
One of these resources is an 80-plus page manual called Ahlan (an Arab word of welcome that literally translates to “family”) that guides potential resettlement campuses in helping refugees to secure housing, community, transportation, employment, healthcare (physical and mental), education, language services, and other basic needs. The publication starts at the core, defining who a refugee is (“a person who cannot return to their country of origin due to a well-founded fear of persecution or death on account of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion”). It goes on to make a case for why resettlement is necessary, specify necessary campus infrastructure elements, offer strategies for providing services, guide partnerships with local agencies, and outline the issues that are most likely to inspire campus stakeholders to support participation.
ECAR stresses that college and university campuses are prime locations to assist refugee families because they offer a cohesive community structure along with access to resources and expertise that help meet their needs. “When universities and colleges leverage their resources to provide a softer landing and a stronger beginning to our newest Americans, everybody wins; our campuses and communities are transformed by the power of the connections made,” says Abdo.
Along with the presence of physical housing, campuses are valuable hubs for other needed resources, and in some cases the benefits flow both ways.
The lessons ECAR has offered partner campuses are now being applied to additional refugee resettlement programs such as Supporting Higher Education in Refugee Resettlement (SHERR). The program operates under the umbrella of the World Learning organization, which previously had focused on professional and academic exchange programs, civic engagement, English as a second language programs, and other refugee resettlement efforts. SHERR, with funding from the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, focuses on connecting higher education institutions with local resettlement agencies and becoming more involved in those efforts as they help refugees navigate the first weeks of resettlement. Along with administering grants that support resettlement efforts, SHERR offers toolkits, webinars, and virtual training. It also manages communities of practice to build networks and share expertise in four distinct areas, including housing and campus utilization.
Other affiliated resources include the Welcome Campus Network, a division of the larger Welcome Corps initiative, which includes more than 250 organizations and businesses. There is also the Refugee Resource Hub, part of the Higher Ed Immigration Portal and administered by the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration. This platform collects data and resources for colleges and universities to help them support refugees.
Matt Brown, the SHERR program manager, explains the benefits of campuses helping with resettlement. Along with the presence of physical housing, campuses are valuable hubs for other needed resources, and in some cases the benefits flow both ways. He points to instances where campuses can connect families with university-affiliated health services and hospitals while also providing medical students with experience. Students and faculty can help the refugees strengthen their English, while foreign-language students have the chance to converse with a native speaker. Other departments, like social work and service learning, can also be integrated into the efforts.
Brown’s description matches what occurred at Oklahoma State as multiple pieces of the campus came together in support of the families. Kluver utilized his position as the dean of Oklahoma State’s School of Global Studies to identify staff and students who spoke Dari and Pashto, Afghanistan's two most common languages. The university’s transportation department supplied bus routes to facilitate shopping for groceries and other supplies. The information technology department quickly had Internet service available in the apartments, and the English Language and Intercultural Center provided language training while assisting the families in additional ways.
As McClinton explains, the university’s faculty, staff, and students began meeting with Afghan children in the family resource center to help them with their homework. Soon after, the program was extended to all the children who lived with their families in graduate housing. Later, some of the Afghan women developed a co-op and gathered in the housing community center to sew purses that they then sold online, allowing them to contribute to the family income. “To help give these 72 people a chance at a new life was an amazing experience,” McClinton says.
Even though most of the refugee families had moved off campus within five months of their arrival, the effects of welcoming those refugee families to Oklahoma State are still felt today. Members of those families have set up in their own homes and apartments in and around Stillwater, holding jobs with the city departments, local schools, and Oklahoma State’s campus dining services. Bringing the story full circle, Kluver recently learned that three individuals who first stepped foot on the Oklahoma State grounds as teenage refugees will return to campus as incoming first-year students.
Thinking back on the whole experience, Kluver recalls a conversation with one of the Afghan parents, who shared how proud he was of his son, who had just been named the Citizen of the Month at Stillwater Junior High. “Only a few months earlier, the family had arrived here in the city,” says Kluver. “They didn’t even know English, and then his son was recognized in that way. To hear a story like that, it makes the whole thing worthwhile.”
James A. Baumann is the editor of Talking Stick and the ACUHO-I Publications Director. ECAR, SHERR, and Oklahoma State representatives will present how campuses can assist in refugee resettlement efforts during Campus Home. LIVE!.
