Ukrainian student shares exhibit to commemorate invasion of Ukraine

NICOLE BOYD opinion editor Russian invasion of Ukraine, or I thought that maybe for here it might be too political, so I just decided to do it like this,” Baruda said.

“Unissued Diplomas” is an international exhibit honoring the stories of Ukrainian students who did not graduate as the result of the Russian war in Ukraine. A Ukrainian student decided to bring the exhibit to SIUE in her own way.

Lisa Baruda, a junior journalism major from Odesa, Ukraine, said she wanted to share work from the exhibit at SIUE to draw attention to the anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. She said she chose to use posters with QR codes to the exhibit’s website where people can read the students’ stories themselves.

“Here at SIUE, a lot of people, they are not really comfortable with talking about the

Baruda said when she originally put posters up, they were taken down by the next day. Although she said it made her sad, she put them up again because as the only Ukrainian international student at SIUE, she feels it’s important to speak up.

“All I wanted was just to draw attention to [the war], because unfortunately here at SIUE I didn’t notice much attention and support,” Baruda said.

Baruda said she hoped to educate SIUE students about what’s happening in Ukraine with attention-grabbing posters with two phrases, the first being something

American students can relate to, and the second show ing the impact of the war.

“One of the posters said, ‘He dreamed about joining a fraternity,’ and the sec ond phrase was, ‘But he joined a battalion instead,’” Baruda said.

“I really wanted to create this thought in our students like, ‘What do you mean, battalion?’ or ‘What do you mean, war?’”

Olga Bezhanova, chair of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, helped Baruda with getting approval to hang the posters outside the Foreign Language Department. Bezhanova said the organization the posters so that every university has the same kind of exhibit.

“People have a shared experience of this event, and I think that’s very good that SIUE is doing something that’s geared toward marking the anniversary,”

Bezhanova said.

Bezhanova, who is from Ukraine, said she had to prepare herself emotionally to see the posters. She said it’s still very hard and she follows the events in Ukraine on the news all day, which is how people who are from Ukraine are living on a day-to-day basis.

“It was an emotionally very fraught and touching moment, and I’m very glad that this was done. It was a student initiative, I just facilitated,” Bezhanova said.

To view the unissued diplomas and the stories of the Ukrainian students they honor, visit the exhibit’s website, unissueddiplomas.org.

03.03.23

Five offensive stickers were found in Cougar Village. All were removed and BIRT has been notified.

03.04.23

An unleashed dog was reportedly chasing people. The dog’s owner was able to regain control of it. There were no injuries.

An offensive sticker was found on an exterior junction box in Cougar Village. The sticker was removed and BIRT was notified.

03.05.23

An unleashed dog was reported near a playground. The dog and its owner were gone when the officer arrived.

03.12.23

A hit and run was reported in Parking Lot 5F.

03.14.23

A small electrical fire in the main elevator in Peck Hall caused the fire alarm to be activated and the building to be evacuated. There were no injuries but the elevator remains out of order.

03.15.23

A woman in her vehicle in Parking Lot 4A was approached by a man who asked her to exit her vehicle. She did not exit the vehicle and the man left. An e-Lert was sent to campus