Events from protests to fundraisers to panels, have sprung up since Russia began its assault.
Maria Smereka, a third-year student at Pennsylvania State University, spent late Wednesday and early Thursday watching the news come in as Russia launched missile attacks near Ukraine’s capital. Her parents and siblings were born in Ukraine and immigrated to the United States before she was born. The 20-year-old grew up in a Ukrainian community in Pittsburgh, where she adopted Ukrainian as her first language. She considers the country her home. Smereka said she stayed up late messaging members of the Ukrainian Society, a cultural group she leads on campus. “Many of us did not get sleep.” Hours later, Smereka would help organize a demonstration near campus. At its peak, about 50 people were in attendance. “Ukraine needs support more than ever,” Smereka, who is studying neurobiology and Spanish said Friday. She said her family, in central and western Ukraine, is safe – but it’s unclear for how long. “It’s surreal to see bombings and innocent people being killed in Ukraine. Being in the U.S., with an ocean between you, it’s not much you can do.” Events from protests to fundraisers to panels, have sprung up on college campuses throughout the U.S. since Russia began its assault. As of Friday, more than 130 Ukrainians had been killed, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Gunfire and explosions have upended neighborhoods and forced citizens to flee. Demonstrations unfolded at schools including Columbia, Stanford and Northeastern universities, as well as the University of Wisconsin-Madison. More than 300 people gathered Thursday in the atrium of the building that houses Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service for a town hall and panel discussion about the invasion. And a student group at Ohio State University advertised a Friday afternoon bake sale to support humanitarian and defense efforts in Ukraine. More than 1,700 Ukrainians studied in the United States during the 2020-21 school year, according to the Institute of International Education, which tracks the number of foreign students in the United States. The group counted 4,805 Russian students that year. Pavlo Illiashenko,36, who has lived in Ukraine for most of his life, was among 200 students who gathered Thursday outside the Low Library on Columbia’s campus.
