Libyan students get ‘unsettling’ news

The continuing chaos and bloodshed in war-torn Libya is threatening to dismantle the plans of Libyan students across the United States.

Nearly 40 Libyan students at Washington State University – along with about 2,000 across the U.S. – learned Wednesday the funding they receive from the Libyan government for education and living expenses will cease May 31. “It’s very unsettling for a number of the students,” said Darren Watkins, a WSU spokesman. “They each had individual goals and aspirations by attending WSU and now those plans appear to be on hold or maybe canceled permanently.”

The Libyan government stopped funding the Libyan-North American Scholarship Program after the U.S. froze about $30 billion of its assets.

Students who can’t afford to pay out of their own pocket have few options and could lose their visas.

They can seek temporary protection, apply for asylum, or return to Libya.

However, those opposed to Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s regime fear retribution if they return to Libya.

“On one hand, they were protesting the acts their government was taking, yet on another, the government is the one supporting their education,” Watkins said. “They’re in sort of a catch-22.”

A letter sent to Libyan-North American Scholarship Program students at WSU included a list of area social service organizations, including the state Department of Social and Health Services and a food bank.

“At this point of uncertainty, you must begin planning for the scholarship program discontinuation,” Provost Warwick M. Bayly wrote in the letter. “Unfortunately, WSU is not able to provide stipends, tuition scholarships, free or deferred rent, or health insurance to students and families who had previously received funding through CBIE.”

“We are able to provide you advice and a list of resources to help you through this difficult time,” he wrote.

Kemale Pinar, director of U.S. Operations for the Canadian Bureau for International Education that distributes the funds, told The Spokesman-Review in April they had secured a license from the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control that would allow them to continue to receive and disburse funds through March 2012.

Pinar did not return calls seeking an explanation of why that license apparently fell through.

Multiple groups at WSU have come together to help the students work through the crisis and quell the confusion they are experiencing, Watkins said.

“Our understanding at this point is that there’s some calls going out to work with local groups to assist with food and shelter options,” he said. “There has been a call … that’s gone out to some of the local churches.”

The Northwest Immigration Rights Project of Seattle volunteered to hold a workshop at a Pullman mosque May 23 for students considering seeking asylum.

Administrators remain hopeful they will find a way to continue funding the students by June 1, Warwick’s letter said. However, he said it remains “very uncertain” whether that will happen.