In the wake of the continued conflict in Syria, Dickinson student Ashley Morefield ’18 has started a petition campaign asking the college to offer 10 scholarships to Syrian students.

As of Tuesday, April 5, the petition has garnered 89 of the 100 signatures required to move the petition on for review.

If approved by the Admissions Office and the Board of Trustees, Dickinson would join the Institute of International Education’s Syria Consortium, a program which aims to “connect Syrian students and scholars with opportunities at campuses around the world,” according to their official website. As of February 2016, 62 universities are members of the consortium.

Once the petition accrues the required number of signatures, Morefield plans to meet with Admissions Counselors to discuss the document.

Morefield has been spreading information about the petition via word of mouth and social media.

“I’ve been taking it day by day, emailing departments at a time so that I can really drag the process out. I don’t want tell everyone at once and then the conversation stops as quickly as it started!” says Morefield. She also hopes to have a table in the HUB before exams to “talk to people face to face and give as much information as people would like before they sign onto something this serious.”

The campaign is co-sponsored by Stand, a national college student-run organization that is against mass genocide; Students Organize for Syria, a student-led movement for Syria; The Syria Campaign, a global advocacy group; and the Karam Foundation, a non-profit seeking to restore the quality of life for people affected by conflict.

Morefield’s website draws attention to Pennsylvania’s Refugee Resettlement Program, and emphasizes Dickinson’s “commitment to diversity” and identity as a “‘giving’ institution.” For these reasons, says Morefield, “it is important that Dickinson College contributes to the global and local initiatives being made to aid in the resettlement of Syrian Refugees. This will certainly further our commitment to being an aware and diverse campus.”

Morefield adds that, “As the daughter of a teacher, I’ve always been taught that education and access to education is precious… so the thought of students across the world who don’t get to continue their studies simply because of a conflict they have nothing to do with really bothers me.”

Morefield also points to Dickinson’s history to gain support for her petition.

“This would not be the first time that Dickinson has opened its doors to refugees,” writes Morefield on the petition’s website. “Dickinson readily welcomed a French World War II refugee to campus [in 1941].”

For more information about the petition, contact Morefield at [email protected] or visit http://books-not-bombs.com/dickinson.