An article this week in VICE discusses the current threat to scholars worldwide and global efforts to provide safe haven to continue their scholarship. "[Syrian] universities have reportedly lost about one third of their professors and at least 100,000 students," writes Rohrlich. Often perceived as the ‘elite’ of society, scholars "don't generally draw as sympathetic an ear," according to Sarah Wilcox, director of IIE Scholar Rescue Fund. Though IIE and others see their protection as necessary to preserve both the content of their ideas and the human right to pursue them.