VU invites Iraqi professors to take a breather
21 Dec 2007
The Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam wants to offer Iraqi professors the opportunity to pursue their research in a safe environment for a few months. At their own universities, the situation is very unsafe, because the various resistance movements respond very aggressively to intellectuals who criticize them.
The costs of offering refuge to the professors have to be borne by VU staff themselves. They have been asked to donate their New Year’s bonus of 50 euros to this good cause. The more money is collected, the more Iraqi scholars can be invited to the VU. The costs per person are estimated at around 80,000 euros.
Contact with the professors will be made by Mient Jan Faber, Professor of Citizens Involvement in War Situations, who is currently in Northern Iraq.
The Vrije Universiteit is also selling special sets of postage stamps to raise money for the project and has set up a special giro account for donations (488594502, in the name of 'VU academische vrijheid').