Scholars at risk in their own countries find a new home at Penn

PHILADELPHIA -- When the Taliban gained control of Afghanistan in 2021, Jawad Moradi feared he would be put in prison, or worse.

Five years earlier, he had earned his master of laws degree at Duke University. Because of his U.S. legal education and interaction with colleagues in the United States and elsewhere, he was at risk. And as a member of a minority population that had been targeted by the Taliban, he was even more vulnerable.

“I had to hide myself in my house,” he said.

But one day, dressed in drab clothes to escape detection, he and his wife traveled a risky route lined with Taliban checkpoints, from Kabul to a northern province, where an evacuation flight arranged by a deputy director at a U.S. university collaborative awaited him.

He found himself in a refugee camp in the United Arab Emirates and nearly a year later in the United States, at the University of Pennsylvania’s Carey Law School.

“What would I do if I didn’t have this support from Penn?” Moradi, 35, often wonders.

Moradi is one of six “at-risk scholars” that Penn has brought to campus since its Penn Global office launched a new program in 2021. The university had previously helped scholars, but the crisis in Afghanistan showed the need for a more coordinated, concerted effort, said Scott Moore, practice professor of political science who oversees the program.

The other five scholars come from Afghanistan, as well as Venezuela and Ukraine, Moore said.

Penn Global provides $30,000 annual stipends for up to two years, and the school or department hosting the scholar is expected to match it. The approximate $60,000 helps with housing and other expenses; they also get office space. Penn Global also assists with visa applications.

“You can’t do lots and lots of people, but you can make a difference,” said Ezekiel J. Emanuel, vice provost for global initiatives.

...continued

swipe to next page