CAA News Today

On February 24, 2022, we witnessed the onset of military action and invasion of Ukraine. The College Art Association (CAA) strongly condemns colonialist aggression and oppression. We stand with our global colleagues, constituents, and friends who are affected by violence and threats to their safety as they struggle for peace and human rights. We recognize and hold firmly the inherent foundations for freedom, justice, and peace in the world. With peace as a central goal, we strongly condemn the deliberate destruction of heritage sites, destruction of art, and attempted hegemonic erasure of culture and history through the actions of oppressors. We encourage our international community of artists, historians, and designers to respond with care, with the aim to de-escalate the violence; and to use actions and words that will reaffirm peace, universal respect, and observance of the spirit of shared humanity. We invite members of our international community and learned societies to support colleagues, to protect scholarship and, with us, to condemn the atrocities to cultural heritage. Destruction of art and history in any one region is an action of erasure of all shared human histories.

CAA holds deep concern for the safety of working people, academic personnel, students, and the culture of the Ukraine, as well as the Global South, Middle East, and Far East and all our international constituencies affected by violence and uncertainty. We additionally support all BIPOC students and peoples and their equal treatment. CAA, its board, and its staff will continue to be in contact with affected members and offer support and advocacy. We stand in solidarity with our international arts community to create, analyze, teach, and promote art as an essential part of our institutions and our lives. We hold your safety, peace, and wellbeing at the forefront of our hearts.

CAA is a signatory of the American Historical Association’s letter condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They write, “We vigorously support the Ukrainian nation and its people in their resistance to Russian military aggression and the twisted mythology that President Putin has invented to justify his violation of international norms.” To read this statement in full, please visit their website.

To read more about CAA’s advocacy, visit this page.

Resources for Displaced Scholars and Students

United States

New University in Exile Consortium 

• The New University in Exile is an expanding group of universities and colleges publicly committed to the belief that the academic community has both the responsibility and capacity to assist persecuted and endangered scholars everywhere and to protect the intellectual capital that is jeopardized when universities and scholars are under assault.
• The primary mission of the Consortium is to nurture academics who have been persecuted and uprooted by creating a sense of intellectual community among exiled scholars.
• If you are affiliated with a college or university and would like your institution to take the next step toward becoming a member of the Consortium, email them at uieconsortium@newschool.edu. There are a few simple criteria for membership, primarily a commitment by your institution to host an endangered scholar. There are no membership dues.

Scholar Rescue Fund

• The Scholar Rescue Fund launched a Ukraine-specific round of the IIE Emergency Student Fund on Monday, February 28, to provide financial support to Ukrainian students studying at US colleges and universities.

The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships

• The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans is a scholarship program offered to immigrants and refugees in the United States. In order to qualify for the scholarship program, applicants must be planning to attend a graduate-level degree program at an accredited American university on a full-time basis. The scholarships can be awarded to US citizens whose parents were born abroad or who are not US citizens as well as to individuals who were born abroad but are naturalized citizens, adopted by US citizens, green card holders or refugee status. Those who were born abroad but graduated from an American high school may also be eligible.

The Association for Slavic, East European, & Eurasian Studies (ASEEES)

• Resources to help displaced scholars from Ukraine.

Global

Scholars at Risk

• Scholars at Risk works to protect threatened scholars and promote academic freedom around the world.
• Go to this page to identify ways to help.

The UN Refugee Agency Scholarships

• A campaign to fund talented refugee scholars.

Germany

DAAD

For colleagues linked to German Universities, the website of DAAD, the German Academic Exchange Service, provides further information concerning Ukraine. The International Office at your university may be eligible for funding to support scholars from Ukraine by linking them to your university.

Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative (DAFI)

• Services and opportunities
• Scholarships
• The UNHCR of the United Nations administers the Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative (DAFI) to help refugees afford the cost of post-secondary education. Through the program, recognized refugees can receive free tuition as well as money for books, transportation, housing, and food. The program is open to applicants who hold a secondary school diploma, have demonstrated financial need, enroll in a program where the likelihood of employment is high, and are under 28 years of age. Only one DAFI award is given out per family. Applicants must be from one of the countries specified by the UNHCR. A full list is available on their website.

Austria

Central European University, Vienna

• Visit this link for ways to donate to Ukranian communities, such as housing and hardship support, as well as a new scholarship fund.

UK

University of Bristol Scholarship

• A scholarship that gives refugees and asylum seekers life-changing access to university education has been expanded, the University of Bristol has announced.

Student Action for Refugees (STAR)

• STAR campaigns for and supports the creation of scholarships to improve access to university for people who have claimed asylum in the UK. At this link, you can find a list of scholarship opportunities in the UK, together with advice for your application and information about other funding opportunities.

Council of At-Risk Academics (CARA) at Risk UK Universities Network 

• The Network aims to facilitate cooperation and collaboration between UK higher education institutions in support of persecuted and at-risk academics, and in the defence and promotion of academic and university freedoms worldwide. 125 UK universities are currently working with us to support these aims.

Other Resources

CAA Committees

CAA Affiliated societies:

• • Society of Historians of East European, Eurasian, and Russian Art and Architecture, inc. (SHERA)
  • European Postwar and Contemporary Art Forum (EPCAF)
  • Diasporic Asian Art Network (DAAN)
  • Association of Academic Museums and Galleries (AAMG)

United Nations Security Council Resolution 2347 (2017)

UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage

1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict  

Nazar Kozak, “Art Embedded into Protest: Staging the Ukrainian Maidan,” Art Journal 76, no.1 (Spring 2017).

CAA has signed on to a statement condemning the many bomb threads received by at least 17 Historically Black Colleges and Universities early this year. As historically contextualized by the AHA, “These crimes are part of a long history of attacks on institutions that serve the Black community—churches, schools, and civil rights organizations—as well as on the individual men, women, and children associated with these institutions. Violent intimidation directed toward Black Americans has a long and bloody history, and recent events suggest that these acts have spawned not only a hateful legacy, but also a current, ongoing threat to the physical safety and emotional well-being of all Black Americans.” To read more visit their website.

CAA has signed on to a statement by the American Historical Association condemning the recent violations of the Presidential Records Act. The statement condemns “in the strongest terms former President Donald J. Trump’s reported extensive and repeated violations of the Presidential Records Act of 1978.” “Historians, journalists, and other researchers depend on these records to educate the public and inform future administrations,” the AHA wrote. “These acts of destruction and noncompliance with the Presidential Records Act demonstrate blatant contempt for both the rule of law and the principles of transparency and accountability that constitute the bedrock of our nation’s democracy.”

CAA has signed on to the statement released by the Middle East Studies Association on February 3, 2022. Addressed to President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, and Secretary of Homeland Security Mayorkas, it seeks immediate action in enabling the safe and speedy relocation of Afghanistan’s students and scholars to the United States. Due to shortcomings in existing visa requirements, it calls on the government to create a dedicated visa category for Afghan scholars and students to allow for travel. To read the statement in full, visit the Middle East Studies Associations website.