The Vanderbilt Student Government (VSG) Senate passed a resolution last week to formally state the student body’s support for refugee resettlement and welcoming of refugees.
The resolution states its support for Nashville’s refugees “no matter their religion, race, nationality, sexual orientation, gender identity, or country of origin,” and calls upon other Tennessee groups to do the same. It is the first resolution of its kind in the state.
Nashville has a large population of refugees, many hailing from the Middle East. According to the Tennessee Office for Refugees, 478 refugees arrived in Tennessee in 2018 with 309 coming to Nashville. Since 1996, the Tennessee Office for Refugees has resettled more than 25,000 refugees in Tennessee.
Sophomore Blane Kassa, the VSG Senator who proposed the resolution, is also the president of Vanderbilt’s chapter of Amnesty International USA. She said that AIUSA had contacted her about passing a VSG resolution stating Vanderbilt’s support of refugee resettlement as part of the organization’s “I Welcome” campaign.
“I think the message of the resolution resonated with my fellow senators because it actively rejects the sort of hate and fear that doesn’t allow for a welcoming, inclusive community,” said Kassa. “I think that many senators felt that this was more of us formally articulating how students already feel rather than us introducing a radically new idea.”
Peabody Senator Kate Petosa echoed Kassa’s sentiment, noting that she supported the resolution because it reaffirms that the Vanderbilt student body is inclusive and sends a message of support to refugees.
Similar resolutions have been passed across the country, mostly in high schools and local governments. The University of Vermont Student Government Association is one of the only other universities to have passed such a resolution, which they did in March of 2018.
These resolutions are partially a reaction to the tone that President Donald Trump’s administration has taken on refugees. The president has insisted on low rates of accepting refugees into the country, capping the number of refugees allowed in 2019 at a record-low 30,000.
“Contrary to what President Trump may think about refugees, the students at the University of Vermont have sent a clear message of welcome to people who just want safe places for their families to live,” said Ashley Houghton, tactical campaign manager at Amnesty International USA, in a response to the University of Vermont resolution. “We want our leaders to support laws that help refugee families who have nowhere else to turn by welcoming them as neighbors.”
Kassa added that she sees no reason why the resolution should be controversial.
“I can’t stress enough how we should remember that this is a human rights issue and shouldn’t be politicized,” said Kassa. “Given recent events in which immigrants and refugees have been the targets of hate and violence, I think it’s extremely important that we are both firm and unapologetic in our support for refugees both in Vanderbilt and around the world.”
