Student Union
- By Eunjung Cho
Americans Strive to Get Masks to Pandemic’s Front Lines
Tricia Rae Pendergrast, a first-year student at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, is joining the fight against the coronavirus by sourcing personal protective equipment, or PPE, to the front lines.
“This is not only your fight. I’m in this with you,” said Pendergrast, in an interview with VOA, adding she hopes the doctors in the emergency rooms feel less alone.
It’s been two weeks since Pendergrast and 140 other medical students in the Chicago area started a citywide donation drive to protect the medical workers. They have already distributed hundreds of masks and face shields, thousands of gowns and 38 liters of hand sanitizer to local hospitals. With donations through crowdsourcing platform GoFundMe amounting to $90,000, they’re looking to buy 30,000 N95 masks, which filter out 95% of airborne particles.
Pendergrast said the distribution of protective gear will be based on need, COVID patient numbers and each hospital’s funding situation. She voiced concerns about the strain on medical facilities that serve underprivileged people.
“This [coronavirus] crisis has really put the inequities that define our city on display, which is really sad,” she said.
Dr. Lena Alia, an OB/GYN resident at Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago, said the facility faces a greater need than others.
“We’re known as the largest safety net in the state of Illinois for Medicaid and Medicare patients. That does make it a little bit more difficult as our funding is usually already on a limited basis because we have lower-income patients,” Alia said. To help her colleagues, she raised funds online and delivered 1,000 KN95 masks. KN95 is a Chinese standard for respirators that’s almost identical to N95.
Crowdfunding campaigns
With just a few clicks, people can easily set up a crowdfunding campaign online. Among those hunting for mask donations, some raise tens of thousands of dollars in just a matter of days.
“The response has been phenomenal. I think what it really shows is that people want to help … and not only are people giving money, I’ve learned so much about many aspects of this from people who are volunteering information,” said Kara Dyer of Massachusetts.
Dyer raised $41,000 in six days and will bring in 20,000 KN95 masks from China next week. With her decadelong experience of running her own toy company, Dyer has navigated the fast-changing Chinese medical supply chain.
“I’ve been a little nervous because a lot of people are counting on me, but more than that, the doctors are counting on me, and I really want to be able to deliver for them,” noted Dyer.
Tough competition
Some fundraisers face roadblocks along the way. Raising money seems easier than securing masks.
Tinisha Stone started a campaign on GoFundMe to get National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health-standardized N95s from China.
The coronavirus outbreak was not yet serious in Austin, Texas, but she wanted to get ahead of the curve and prepare for a surge. Her husband is a doctor.
But on the day that her order of 3,000 masks was scheduled to be shipped, she received a message from her contact in China.
“The [mask] factory got shut down, surrounded by police. The government shut it down before they were able to send our supplies,” Stone noted. “It’s become extremely difficult to source the N95s now. And we’re still working on it but it’s been hard every day, all day, for the last 10 days,” Stone said.
Stone says her contact in China is again offering to get supplies from the same factory if she can order more, at a higher price.
Stone says she will carry on with her mission.
“I just feel like I need to do what I promised that I was going to do or I need to get the money back [to the donors]. I don’t want to give it back. I’d rather succeed and be able to help the health care workers in Austin.”
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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."
- By VOA News
STEM, business top subjects for international students
The Times of India breaks down the most popular subjects for international students to study in the U.S.
STEM and business lead the pack. Read the full story here. (January 2025)
- By VOA News
Safety and visa difficulties among misconceptions about US colleges
U.S. News & World report addresses some of the misconceptions about U.S. colleges and universities, including the difficulty of getting a visa.
Read the full story here. (January 2025)
- By VOA News
Work opportunities help draw international students to US schools
US News & World Report details the three top factors in foreign students' decision to study in the U.S. They include research opportunities and the reputation of U.S. degrees. Read the full story here. (December 2024)
- By VOA News
British student talks about her culture shock in Ohio
A British student who did a year abroad at Bowling Green State University in Ohio talks about adjusting to life in America in a TikTok video, Newsweek magazine reports.
Among the biggest surprises? Portion sizes, jaywalking laws and dorm room beds.
Read the full story here. (December 2024)
