Among Pomona’s newly admitted students for 2023-24 are nine refugees with citizenships from Congo, Syria and Ukraine.
The admissions are a reflection of Pomona’s commitment to the recently launched Global Student Haven Initiative, a program founded by eight colleges and universities in response to the war in Ukraine and the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
Along with Bowdoin, Caltech, Dartmouth, NYU, Smith, Trinity and Williams, Pomona is dedicated to providing a path for students affected by worldwide crises to apply to U.S.-based colleges and universities—and to receive scholarships and other support when they arrive. The initiative seeks to help students continue their education and later to return to their home nations.
“This is about opening doors and helping people through them,” says Pomona College President G. Gabrielle Starr. “The global disruptions of recent years have tested American higher education’s long commitment to reaching out to the world. We seek to reaffirm our global ties, starting with the urgent needs of students facing the devastation of war.”
Pomona’s effort is supported by an earlier $1.2 million gift from Florence and Paul Eckstein ’62 in honor of his immigrant parents, and a new $1 million gift from the Fletcher Jones Foundation.