Student Union
- By June Soh
College Students Unite to Bring Relief to Refugees
George Mason University students streamed into a room in the campus’ community building in Fairfax, Virginia, one day last week to pack rice and beans. These meals, 40,000 of them, were bound for refugee families in the Middle East.
“Each box provides meals for a family of five for a whole month. We are able to pack 280 boxes to take over there,” said Brett Miller with George Mason’s Christian Campus Ministry. The interdenominational Christian organization Mason Cru organized Meals for Refugees in response to what has become a very large problem.
The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, estimates that one in every 113 people on the planet is now a refugee. By the end of 2016, UNHCR said number of displaced people had risen to 65.6 million, 300,000 more than the year before and the largest number ever recorded, putting pressure on humanitarian organizations and governments for food and housing.
WATCH: College Students Unite to Bring Relief to Refugees
Meals for Refugees was part of an annual campuswide humanitarian effort called Love Week. This year, Love Week was about helping refugees in partnership with the Global Aid Network (GAiN), which will distribute the meals.
“We gather as many students as we can,” Miller said. “We have a Jewish group partnering with us, Muslim groups.” The event has also drawn members of sororities and fraternities, as well other non-religious organizations.
With 35,000 students and four campuses, George Mason is Virginia’s biggest school and the state’s largest public research university.
Begun in 2010, Love Week takes on a different project each year. In earlier years, students have raised money to rescue women from sex trafficking, packed school supplies for a mentorship program in Botswana and provided seeds so displaced families in South Sudan could grow their own food.
In addition to packing meals, students also raised money for refugees through the sale of T-shirts that say “Love Refugees” on the front.
“That’s our major, major way of gaining funds for this cause. They are very popular,” Miller said.
Love Week has two purposes. One is to relieve suffering in the refugee camps. The other is give students a new perspective.
“Our hope is that students here would gain a heart for those who are poor, or displaced, marginalized in the world,” Miller said.
Student Carrie Johns began to participate in Love Week three years ago with a clean water project for Guatemala.
“I know that I’m very lucky because I have a home to go to,” she said. “I have three meals a day. But I also know that there are people in the world like refugees who don’t have that. And I hope that my efforts can bring them hope and brighten their day even when times are difficult.”
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Trump administration opens antisemitism inquiries at 5 colleges, including Columbia and Berkeley
The Trump administration is opening new investigations into allegations of antisemitism at five U.S. universities including Columbia and the University of California, Berkeley, the Education Department announced Monday.
It's part of President Donald Trump's promise to take a tougher stance against campus antisemitism and deal out harsher penalties than the Biden administration, which settled a flurry of cases with universities in its final weeks. It comes the same day the Justice Department announced a new task force to root out antisemitism on college campuses.
In an order signed last week, Trump called for aggressive action to fight anti-Jewish bias on campuses, including the deportation of foreign students who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests.
Along with Columbia and Berkeley, the department is now investigating the University of Minnesota, Northwestern University and Portland State University. The cases were opened using the department's power to launch its own civil rights reviews, unlike the majority of investigations, which stem from complaints.
Messages seeking comment were left with all five universities.
A statement from the Education Department criticized colleges for tolerating antisemitism after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and a wave of pro-Palestinian protests that followed. It also criticized the Biden administration for negotiating "toothless" resolutions that failed to hold schools accountable.
"Today, the Department is putting universities, colleges, and K-12 schools on notice: this administration will not tolerate continued institutional indifference to the wellbeing of Jewish students on American campuses," said Craig Trainor, the agency's acting assistant secretary for civil rights.
The department didn't provide details about the inquiries or how it decided which schools are being targeted. Presidents of Columbia and Northwestern were among those called to testify on Capitol Hill last year as Republicans sought accountability for allegations of antisemitism. The hearings contributed to the resignation of multiple university presidents, including Columbia's Minouche Shafik.
An October report from House Republicans accused Columbia of failing to punish pro-Palestinian students who took over a campus building, and it called Northwestern's negotiations with student protesters a "stunning capitulation."
House Republicans applauded the new investigations. Representative Tim Walberg, chair of the Education and Workforce Committee, said he was "glad that we finally have an administration who is taking action to protect Jewish students."
Trump's order also calls for a full review of antisemitism complaints filed with the Education Department since Oct. 7, 2023, including pending and resolved cases from the Biden administration. It encourages the Justice Department to take action to enforce civil rights laws.
Last week's order drew backlash from civil rights groups who said it violated First Amendment rights that protect political speech.
The new task force announced Monday includes the Justice and Education departments along with Health and Human Services.
"The Department takes seriously our responsibility to eradicate this hatred wherever it is found," said Leo Terrell, assistant attorney general for civil rights. "The Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is the first step in giving life to President Trump's renewed commitment to ending anti-Semitism in our schools."
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