Latest news with #FulbrightScholar
The Hill
22-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Senator Fulbright had a vision. His successors must see it through.
Last week, 11 of the 12 members of the Fulbright Board of Directors resigned, citing political interference in awarding Fulbright Scholar awards for the upcoming year. This comes less than two weeks after ten students and six researchers left Sweden after nine months away from home, returning to America to continue their educational and professional paths. Unless something changes, this year's Fulbright research grantees to Sweden, and those to other countries around the world, may be the last to make the trip, as the entire international cultural exchange program budget faces elimination in the budget bill. Since it was founded in 1946, the Fulbright Program has enjoyed bipartisan support because it has always been aligned first and foremost with our national interests. In the words of Sen. J. William Fulbright (D-Ark.), the American politician and statesman who served in the U.S. Senate between 1945 and 1974, Fulbright was designed to be 'a modest program with an immodest aim — the achievement in international affairs of a regime more civilized, rational and humane than the empty systems of power of the past,' as he said when the program was signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. In order to continue this work, Fulbright's successors today must act to restore this important program that has been paying huge dividends for nearly 80 years. The Fulbright scholars in Sweden, including myself, hail from institutions across the country. After a rigorous selection process over the course of a year, they were chosen to represent our country abroad, facing long winter days, to study critical issues such as immunities in malaria infections, potential treatments for chronic kidney disease, root causes of autoimmune disorders, fair uses of artificial intelligence, strengthened safety regulations in long-range rescue operations, long-term sustainability of oceanic food sources, and enhanced access to medical services. The Fulbright Program runs on a tight annual budget of $288 million, representing a minuscule share of America's international relations budget. Scholars and students are deployed to 165 countries around the world. Stipends to grantees are exceedingly modest, covering only room, board and incidental expenses. Limited financial support encourages grantees to explore local resources and even share accommodations. To survive the Nordic winter when the sun appeared only two or three hours each day, the 15 researchers in Sweden spent their free time participating in local sports teams and volunteering at health clinics and community service organizations. Their presence in community activities helped forge lifelong relationships and spread goodwill at a time when America's hard power is frequently questioned abroad. Since the program's inception, Fulbright recipients have gone on to win 62 Nobel prizes, 96 Pulitzer prizes and 17 Presidential Medals of Freedom. Eighty-two have been named MacArthur geniuses and 44 have become heads of state. The list of Fulbrighters is long, distinguished and bipartisan. Fulbrighter Linus Pauling, one of the founders of the fields of quantum chemistry and molecular biology, won both the Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the Nobel Peace Prize. Authors John Steinbeck, Edward Albee and John Updike were Fulbrighters, as is American soprano Renée Fleming. In the eyes of Fulbright, who himself received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1993, the Fulbright Program was meant to bring a little more knowledge, a little more reason and a little more compassion into world affairs, thereby increasing the chance that nations will learn to live in peace and friendship. The 2025 Swedish Fulbright researchers, representing the best and brightest our country has to offer, have done their part to contribute to this goal. I wish our senators could have seen them in action as I have. At a time when governmental funding priorities are scrutinized for fiscal efficiency, the Fulbright Program stands as a proven investment in education and diplomacy while promoting American values worldwide and shaping future leaders. Fulbright helps build a stronger, smarter, more prosperous United States. Eliminating its funding would be a poor investment in America's future, making the world a more dangerous place in the process. Christie S. Warren, the 2024-2025 Fulbright-Lund Distinguished Chair in Public International Law, is Professor of the Practice of International and Comparative Law and director of the Center for Comparative Legal Studies at William and Mary Law School.
The National
09-05-2025
- Politics
- The National
Rumeysa Ozturk released from custody
Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza A judge has ordered the release of Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish resident pursuing her PhD in the US. Ms Ozturk, 30, had her visa revoked after being taken into custody on March 25 by masked immigration officers near her home in Massachusetts. 'This is a big victory for Rumeysa,' Massachusetts Democratic Senator Ed Markey posted on social media, saying her detention was unlawful. The Department of Homeland Security has accused her, without providing evidence, of 'engaging in activities in support of Hamas', the Gaza-based Palestinian militant group which the US government has designated a 'foreign terrorist organisation'. Ms Ozturk, who is also a Fulbright Scholar, last year co-authored an opinion piece in the student newspaper criticising the Tufts response to students calls to divest from companies with Israel ties and to 'acknowledge the Palestinian genocide'. A federal judge on March 28 stopped her deportation after Ms Ozturk's lawyers filed a lawsuit saying her detention infringed her rights to free speech and due process. Since taking office on January 20, President Donald Trump has pledged to deport foreign pro-Palestine protesters and has accused them, often without evidence of supporting Hamas and posing foreign policy hurdles for the US. The Trump administration also cancelled $400 million in funding for Columbia University, which was the centre of nationwide student protests last summer to demand an end to Israel's military assault on Gaza and for universities to divest from companies with ties to Israel. The US State Department reportedly plans on using artificial intelligence to potentially revoke the visas of international students accused of supporting Hamas – an idea many legal experts say is problematic from a due process standpoint.
New York Times
09-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Judge Orders Release of Tufts Student Detained by ICE
A federal judge in Vermont ordered the Trump administration on Friday to release Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University student whose sudden arrest in March led to a public outcry. Ms. Ozturk, a former Fulbright scholar, has been in detention since March 25, when she was surrounded by immigration agents in masks and plainclothes outside her home in Somerville, Mass. The agents handcuffed and hustled her into an unmarked car, and then drove her through New Hampshire to Vermont, where she was put on a plane to Louisiana. In seeking her release, her lawyers have accused the government of detaining her in unconstitutional retaliation for protected speech. The main evidence against her appears to be an essay critical of Israel that she helped to write in a Tufts student newspaper last year. Video footage of Ms. Ozturk's detention went viral, leading to public outrage of her treatment by critics who say the government is abusing the immigration system to deport international students. Ms. Ozturk has spent six weeks in detention in Louisiana and has endured unsanitary conditions that have triggered increasingly severe asthma attacks, her lawyers said in court documents. Earlier this week, a federal appeals court ordered that she be transferred to Vermont by next week to attend a bail hearing. But the judge in her case, William K. Sessions, decided to hold the hearing with Ms. Ozturk still in Louisiana and ordered her release. This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Reuters
07-05-2025
- Reuters
Lawsuits test Airbnb's alleged liability in carbon monoxide deaths
May 7 (Reuters) - Sebastian Mejia died in the shower of an Airbnb rental in Brazil in 2022, the alleged victim, opens new tab of carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty water heater. A Fulbright scholar, the 24-year-old Florida native was studying the country's indigenous communities. That same year, an American woman staying at an Airbnb (ABNB.O), opens new tab in Croatia allegedly shared his fate, as did a trio of American tourists at an Airbnb in Mexico City, a man on a work trip to San Luis Potosí, Mexico, and a Loyola Marymount graduate student at an Airbnb in Guadalajara in late 2021, court records show. None of the properties was equipped with detectors that would have alerted occupants to the odorless, colorless gas, the victims' families' allege in a series of wrongful death lawsuits against Airbnb. As the cases make their way through the courts, they raise questions about the reach of Airbnb's arbitration agreement and whether the short-term rental platform has a duty to protect its users from harm caused by third parties at properties it says it 'does not own, have a right to access, or control.' To find otherwise, Airbnb argues in court papers, opens new tab, would 'radically expand tort liability.' A spokesperson for the publicly traded San Francisco-based company, which reported more than $11 billion in revenue last year, said in a statement that there 'have been over 2 billion guest arrivals on Airbnb, and incidents are exceptionally rare.' The spokesperson added that Airbnb has given away more than 280,000 free combined smoke and carbon monoxide detectors to hosts. On Thursday, Airbnb lawyers from O'Melveny & Myers will face off at a hearing in San Francisco Superior Court against counsel for the widow of José Peñaloza Herrera to argue that the claims fail as a matter of law and should be dismissed. Herrera, a Mexican citizen, had been on a work trip to install machinery at an automotive plant when he died of carbon monoxide poisoning while sleeping in a room that contained a gas-powered water heater and other appliances, according to the complaint. Pedro Echarte, a partner at the Florida-based Haggard Law Firm who represents plaintiff Yessica Garcia Cardenas, argued in court papers, opens new tab that there have been at least 19 deaths due to carbon monoxide poisoning at Airbnb rentals abroad since 2013. Airbnb did not respond to my requests to confirm that number, which Echarte told me is based on news reports of the deaths. By the time Herrera died in December 2022, the company should have known it was a 'systemic problem,' Echarte said, especially at properties in Central and South America, where fuel-burning water heaters that can emit carbon monoxide are more common. Airbnb was 'on notice of repeated incidents of its guests dying' from the gas, he argued, but 'inadequately responded to the danger.' To be clear, carbon monoxide poisoning doesn't just happen at Airbnbs. For example, the teenage son of former New York Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner died of carbon monoxide poisoning in March while staying at a five-star hotel in Costa Rica, authorities determined last month. Assigning liability, however, can be far murkier when travelers rent from a third-party host. The big question: What duty – if any – does Airbnb owe its customers to keep them safe? After a carbon monoxide death of a Canadian tourist in Taiwan, plaintiffs alleged that Airbnb in a 2014 blog post (available here, opens new tab on the internet archive the Way Back Machine) stated it would 'require all Airbnb hosts to confirm that they have (carbon monoxide detection) devices installed in their listing.' That apparently didn't happen, given the subsequent lawsuits. When I asked Airbnb why, the spokesperson didn't provide an explanation. However, if a guest now books a listing where the host doesn't report having a carbon monoxide detector, Airbnb flags it in the booking confirmation, along with a recommendation, opens new tab to bring a portable detector. (You can buy one starting around $25.) Plaintiffs lawyers argue Airbnb should have reasonably foreseen there would be subsequent deaths by carbon monoxide poisoning at properties without the alarms — and should be held liable for negligence and premises liability as a result. 'The tragedy is that these deaths were so easily avoidable,' said James Ferraro, who along with partner Jose Becerra represents Rosa Martinez, whose son Sebastian Mejia died in Brazil. In suing Airbnb, Martinez alleges, opens new tab not just wrongful death — the only cause of action in Echarte's case — but also asserts broader claims including fraud, negligence and breach of fiduciary duty. She also seeks injunctive relief to force Airbnb to remove all active listings without carbon monoxide alarms. Airbnb initially asserted the entire case was subject to arbitration based on its terms of service. On appeal, it eventually withdrew its argument that the wrongful death claims were within the scope of the agreement. In March, the First Appellate District Court in San Francisco split the case, sending the portion seeking survivor benefits — relief for claims such as fraud that would have belonged to Mejia and passed to his successors in interest — to arbitration. However, the court ruled, opens new tab the wrongful death claims could be tried in court, as could the claim for public injunctive relief. Left unanswered: What if there are inconsistent rulings in the two forums? Last fall, a federal judge in San Francisco faced a similar dilemma in a lawsuit, opens new tab involving Monique Woods, the Airbnb guest who died in Croatia. U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney sent the successor-in-interest claims to arbitration and stayed the wrongful death claims. Chesney also noted that plaintiff Cindy Woods, the victim's mother, created an Airbnb account in 2013 and agreed to arbitrate all disputes. To conserve judicial resources and ensure consistency, the judge put the arbitration first. 'Here, the outcome of the wrongful death claims will depend upon the arbitrator's decision as to the viability of the survival claims,' she wrote, opens new tab. That's because the arbitrator will make findings on the same primary issues, such as what duties Airbnb owes its customers and whether the breach of any such duty was a proximate cause of injury. Of course, that also means the arbitrator is empowered to decide if the wrongful death claims can move forward, even if the claims themselves won't be arbitrated.
The Independent
07-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump team ordered to move Tufts student from Louisiana ICE jail after it couldn't ‘take a position' on her free speech
A New York-based federal appeals court has ordered Donald Trump 's administration to transfer Tufts University scholar Rumeysa Ozturk from an immigration detention center in Louisiana to Vermont. The case of Ozturk, a Turkish international student and former Fulbright scholar working towards her doctorate in child development, is among several high-profile cases at the center of the Trump administration's targeting of international students for their advocacy for Palestine during Israel's war in Gaza. In March, Ozturk's visa was revoked and she was arrested and detained by plain-clothes federal agents outside her apartment in Massachusetts in what her lawyers argue is a retaliatory attempt to deport her over an op-ed she wrote in a student newspaper. The government has one week to transfer her, according to Wednesday's order, which arrived less than 24 hours after a hearing in which government attorneys failed to say whether they even agree with the administration's position that her pro-Palestine speech is not constitutionally protected. Appellate Judge Barrington Parker, who was appointed by George W. Bush, pressed Department of Justice attorney Drew Ensign on whether Ozturk's statements — and statements from another international student who was arrested for support for Palestine — amount to protected speech. 'Your honor, we haven't taken a position on that,' Ensign replied. 'Help my thinking. Take a position,' Parked fired back. 'I don't have authority to take a position,' Ensign said. Ozturk has been locked up in a rural Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Louisiana for more than 100 days. In sworn statements in court documents, she reported experiencing several asthma attacks and sharing a cell with more than 20 others in cramped and unsanitary conditions. Her detention is 'unprecedented and shocking,' according to Esha Bhandari, deputy director of the ACLU 's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. 'She has been held behind bars for six weeks while her health deteriorates for writing an op-ed,' she told a three-judge appeals court panel Wednesday. 'Detention is not the norm with respect to visa revocation, as we had here. The executive branch made a specific decision to detain Ms. Ozturk that was motivated by her speech.' Last month, Vermont District Judge William K. Session ordered Ozturk's transfer to a detention center in the state, noting that her case has 'raised significant constitutional concerns with her arrest and detention which merit full and fair consideration in this forum.' The Trump administration appealed the order, arguing that Ozturk can be deported under the Immigration and Nationality Act, which Secretary of State Marco Rubio has invoked against dozens of international students who he claims have 'adverse' impacts to the country's foreign policy. But the administration does not appear to possess any evidence backing up claims of antisemitism and support for a terrorist organization to justify her arrest, according to court filings and government memos. 'No one should be arrested and locked up for their political views,' Bhandari said in a statement Wednesday. 'Every day that RRumeysa Ozturk remains in detention is a day too long. We're grateful the court refused the government's attempt to keep her isolated from her community and her legal counsel as she pursues her case for release.'
