The Russian Club organized a panel of experts on the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Sunday, March 6, 2022 at the Mary Sue Cushman Room. A panel of experts discussed the roots of the current situation, possible outcomes and ways that we might help. You may donate to any of the charities listed in this spreadsheet.
The expert panelists:
Karl Afrikian C’16 Returned Peace Corps Ukraine Volunteer, 2018-2020, worked with Euro-integration NGOs in Ukraine; current Assistant Researcher at the Russia-Eurasia Program at the Tufts School of Law and Diplomacy.
Martin Blackwell Visiting Professor of History, Stetson University; Fulbright Scholar to Ukraine; author of monograph Kyiv as Regime City: The Return of Soviet Power after the Nazi Occupation
Mila Dragojevic Professor of Politics, The University of the South
Research areas: ethnicity and nationalism, political violence, peace, democratization
Alexa Fults C’21 - C. Gaither Junior Fellow for the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C
Yuliya Ladygina Assistant Professor of Russian, Ukrainian, Global Studies at Penn State, Ukrainian national
John Reuter Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Senior Researcher at the Moscow School of Higher Economics
Brian Whitmore The Atlantic Council & Assistant Professor of Practice at University of Texas, Arlington. Bio
The students, faculty, and staff of the Sewanee Russian Department with one voice condemn the Russian State's actions in Ukraine. We are shocked, dismayed, and horrified. We extend our heartfelt affection and support to our Sewanee Ukrainian students as well as all the people of Ukraine, Russia, and Eastern Europe who are subjected to this violence and its aftermath. We will all face this aftermath, which will include the large scale disruption of peoples' lives, global instability and increased danger.
The words of a long term Russian Colleague, (whom I am leaving unnamed) an administrator at the University in Petersburg, sums up the horror and shock of our Russian Academic Colleagues: "what my country is doing now is terrible, unacceptable, unexplainable, unforgivable. It's a tragedy and a shame!"
We condemn the authoritarian violence of the current Russian state, and the attempt at subversion of the democratic process in Ukraine, yet we ask our community to continue to support and appreciate the cultures and peoples of Eastern Europe, including Ukraine and Russia.
We want to thank Sewanee's leadership, in particular Nancy and Scott, for the thoughtful, helpful email they sent to our community about this crisis.
Sincerely, and with hope for a swift peaceful resolution,
The Sewanee Russian Department
