SYMPOSIUM FOR SYRIAN REFUGEESTuesday, April 4, 2017 Fresno State University

University Business Center rooms 191 & 194

Would you like to learn more about Syria, Syrian refugees, and the refugee resettlement program in the United States? Are you curious about how refugees are vetted, what the asylum process looks like, or would like to learn more about our new Syrian neighbors in Fresno?

On April 4, the Islamic Studies speaker series, Department of History, and College of Social Sciences will host a full day of activities to present the experience of Syrian refugees resettled in the United States. Speakers from USCIS, refugee resettlement agencies, and humanitarian groups join eminent scholar of human rights, Dr. Keith Watenpaugh for these discussions. Come to some, come to all! Ahlan wa Sahlan (“welcome!”) and see you there!

For class visits/press inquiries, please email Stacy Fahrenthold at sfahrenthold@csufresno.edu

Symposium for Syrian Refugees: Agenda

1:00-2:30 Emilia Bardini, US Citizenship and Immigration Services Asylum Office(UBC 194) Lunch will be served.

Bardini will speak to us about the work that the San Francisco Asylum Office does with refugees entering the United States and the asylum process.

3:00-4:30 “There are no Students in Zaatari Camp:” Losing a Generation of Syria’s Best and Brightest and the Challenges of Refugee Higher Education(UBC194)Historian Keith Watenpaugh provides a unique window into the terrible cost of the war in Syria: its impact on Syrian refugee students and young people. In this talk, Watenpaugh discusses conditions facing Syrian refugee students and measures to reconnect them with higher education opportunities. Watenpaugh directs a global project to better understand the problems and opportunities facing refugee university students from the Syrian war. This work takes him from refugee camps in Jordan, second-shift schools in Lebanon, Syrian ghettos in Istanbul, and illegal encampments on the borders of Greece to talk with young people who are struggling to pursue an education in the face of discrimination and a lack of international will to help. His work has produced a series of influential studies shaping international policy on refugee higher education.

5:00-6:30 Refugee Assistance Work in California’s Central Valley: a Panel Discussion(UBC 194)Speakers include Wasan Abu Baker (American Friends Service Committee); Dr. Kathleen Chavoor; Ahmad Tarakji (Syrian American Medical Society of Fresno).

This panel lays out local efforts to assist refugees making the transition to Fresno. Wasan Abu Baker tells us about agencies working to help refugees seek housing, employment, and education. Dr. Kathleen Chavoor discusses mental health care and the challenges that Syrian refugees face when processing past traumas while integrating here. Ahmad Tarakji describes the work that the Syrian American Medical Society does to raise awareness and humanitarian assistance.

7:00-7:30 Book Signing & Hors d’Oeuvres Reception at the Alice Peters Auditorium(UBC 194) Historian Keith David Watenpaugh will sign copies of his book, Bread from Stones. Syrian-style refreshments will be provided.

7:30-9:00 The Drowned, the Saved and the Forgotten: Genocide and the Foundations of Modern Humanitarianism(UBC 194)Dr. Keith David Watenpaugh (UC Davis)Genocide is unparalleled in its horror. It is the ultimate crime against humanity, but it is also a problem of humanity that evokes a problem for humanity. In this talk, drawn from his award-winning book, Bread from Stones: The Middle East and the Making of Modern Humanitarianism (2015) Keith David Watenpaugh examines the particular questions that arise when the problem of humanity motivating a problem for humanity is the crime of genocide. Examining international humanitarian responses to the genocide of the Ottoman Armenians (1915-1922), he argues that modern humanitarianism and genocide have a complex and intertwined history that has shaped the critical modern concepts of humanitarian neutrality, humanitarian governance and the role of justice in relief, and Human Rights-based development.