Scholars Under Threat News
SUT Scholar is One of “The Last Free Women”
Mursal Rahim, MPA ’25, fled Afghanistan during the Taliban takeover and earned a Cornell degree supported by Global Cornell’s Scholars Under Threat initiative. The Last Free Women chronicles her journey, including her time at Cornell, her UN internship, and how she and three others have built new futures.
“This is the whiplash I live with now—highs of freedom and newfound opportunity, punctured by lows of intense guilt.”
The book was written by Rebecca Blumenstein, a former New York Times editor who helped coordinate employees’ evacuation and resettlement, and Diana Kapp, a journalist who has reported from Afghanistan.
Scholars and Students in the News
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At the IIE-SRF Forum in Brussels, Nishi Dhupa presented a partnership model developed by Cornell and IIE-SRF to offer funding and professional resources to Ukrainian scholars undertaking IIE-SRF fellowships in Eastern Europe.
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Pedro X. Molina joined a panel at Syracuse's new Institute for Democracy Journalism and Citizenship In Washington, DC, to discuss democracy, journalism, citizenship, and cartooning (timestamp: 1:11).
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“To me, the ability to host scholars under threat and to work with IIE is really core to the entire mission of higher education and the mission of the university,” says Wendy Wolford, vice provost for international affairs.
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Mursal Rahim MPA '25 is an Afghan scholar studying human rights and social justice in the Cornell Brooks School of Public Policy.
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Scholar Sharif Hozoori writes about the ways freedom of expression and democracy are intertwined.
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"The resurgence of the Taliban poses renewed threats to the Hazaras, characterized by escalated violence, discrimination, and isolation," writes visiting scholar Tawab Danish.
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From a sociologist accused of treason to a political cartoonist to an Afghan artist, displaced scholars fleeing conflicts in their home countries have found refuge at Cornell, which has hosted more Institute of International Education scholar and artist fellows than any other university in the world.
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Eugene Nikiforovich, a fluid mechanics expert from Ukraine, researches geothermal energy and its properties—work he has been able to continue with support from Cornell since leaving Kyiv two years ago.
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Afghan visual artist and scholar Sharifa “Elja” Sharifi fled Afghanistan in September 2021, a month after the Taliban seized control. She found a new beginning at Cornell's Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, where she has been able to continue her work over the past two years.
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Afghan scholar Tawab Danish spoke at an event hosted by Einaudi's South Asia Program titled Hazaras and Shias: Violence, Discrimination, and Exclusion Under Taliban Rule. "We should use sanctions to force the Taliban to sit at the negotiation table. Otherwise, they have the power," said Danish.