Mass. Schools to Help Clinton-Dole-Sponsored Scholarship Fund
By Sarah Sparks
WASHINGTON – Former President Bill Clinton and former Senator Robert Dole announced Saturday that they will co-chair the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund to support the education of children affected by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, boosted by an opening $1 million donation from Harvard University.
“One of the problems with human tragedy of this breathtaking magnitude is that as it fades and we return to normal life – and we all know, someday, sooner or later, that will happen – the long-term needs can be forgotten,” Clinton said, “and there is no more important long-term need than to see that the children who were affected by this tragedy, when they come of age – whether that is this year or 18 years from now – will have the opportunity to have an education.”
Cynthia Pfeffer, director of the Childhood Bereavement Program at New York Presbyterian Hospital, testified before the Senate last week that the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon left thousands of children without one or both parents. The problem of how to ensure education for those children was severe enough to bring together long-time political adversaries Clinton and Dole.
“As evidence of how totally un-political this is,” Clinton quipped at the scholarship’s unveiling at Georgetown University, “I hope somebody noticed he (Dole) was standing on my left today.”
“There’s not any politics or partisanship in an effort like this,” Dole agreed. “We’re both Americans, we both love our country, and we’d like to do something in a positive way.”
Citizens’ Scholarship Foundation of America, Inc., which runs Dollars for Scholars and other student aid programs will also run the Families of Freedom fund, said Citizens President Bill Nelson. The group is already working with government officials to create a database of those lost in the attacks.
“Any child or spouse – since you may have spouses who may have to go back to school as a result of this tragedy – of any person killed or permanently disabled as a result of this tragedy and the follow-up rescue efforts will be eligible,” Nelson said. Money from the fund will be allocated according to standard need-based financial aid standards.
Andrew McKelvey, CEO of TMP Worldwide, who provided the initial $1 million to create the fund, said that there was an immediate outpouring of money from those who wanted to help orphaned or bereaved children.
Harvard’s Sept. 11 College Fund, which will be folded into Families of Freedom, donated $1 million in a joint effort with the American Council on Education.
Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers said in a Sept. 19 letter to the Harvard community that the university would donate the money by “working with colleagues in the field of higher education to identify the most effective way to organize a scholarship fund to meet educational needs.”
Dole compared the fund to the post World War II G.I. Bill, which helped him and other students go to college or trade schools.
“I think that this will be a living memorial, and they [children] will understand as they grow older that America continues to care,” Dole said. “By this effort, the young people who may be infants 15 or 20 years from now will understand that somebody in America cared enough to make a contribution to make it possible for them to pursue their dreams.”
