Camille Pfister
Editor-in-Chief
Meredith Williams
Arts and Entertainment Editor
The war in Ukraine escalated when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Since that day, there has been danger and destruction throughout the country. According to Newsweek, “the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has recorded 29,330 civilian casualties in Ukraine, consisting of 10,191 killed and 19,139 injured since Russia’s invasion on February 24, 2022.” Sewanee, Tennessee is geographically far away from Ukraine, but there are lots of students, faculty, and staff emotionally affected by the conflict.
One of these students is Kamilla Haidaienko (C’ 25) who is from Odessa, Ukraine and is studying math, art, and German studies. The Purple did a feature on Haidaienko last semester about her accomplishment of triple majoring. Along with her studies, Haidaienko is a part of an organization focusing on cross-cultural understanding, is a part of the track and field team, started a volleyball club, and serves on the Honor Council.
“I’m Ukrainian,” Haidainenko. “I’ve been deeply affected by the war and everything that’s been going on for the past two years. Since the war started, we’ve been doing events about Ukraine. We’ve been trying to educate people as much as possible, and get people to care about the war, and support the cause.”
Sewanee is known for being “in such a bubble” due to the fact that its position on top the Plateau is far from large cities and global events. “It’s very hard to get people who are not directly affected to be touched by events that are so far away, especially at Sewanee,” Haidainenko said.
However, Sewanee students have also always cared about bringing global events to Sewanee’s attention, such as inviting speakers through the Babson Center, organizing protests, and working closely with faculty, staff, and administration to continuously try to improve our campus. Haidainenko brought an exhibition entitled “Unissued Diplomas” to Sewanee in order to bridge the gap between the isolated Sewanee students and the students who have been directly affected by the war.
“I thought it was a great opportunity to form a connection between Sewanee students and similar people, also students, whose lives have been very impacted by the war,” Haidainenko said. “I’m hoping this is a bridge between Ukrainians and Sewanee students.”
The exhibition “was started by Ukrainian students a year ago.” There have been hundreds of children and young adult deaths in the war, and many of these were students either in high school or in college. “[The students] decided to gather information about Ukrainian students that were killed during the war, for different reasons,” Haidainenko said. “Some of them were killed in battles, others were living their normal lives at home, and there was a bombing.” The Unissued Diplomas exhibition honors the memories of these 40 Ukrainian students who will never graduate because their lives were taken from them by the Russian invasion.
The organization that funded this exhibition “created these posters and launched a project that gave permission for people all around the world to print out and display these exhibitions on campuses and universities, and in public spaces,” Haidaienko said.
“Unissued Diplomas” began in 2023, being “displayed in 110 locations globally” in 24 countries, and now they are continuing displays, while also “raising money to go towards a fund that supports education for Ukrainian students.” Most of these students were in their early twenties, just beginning their lives. Yet, the youngest reported in this exhibition was only seventeen years old when they were brutally murdered by the Russian troops. You can read more about the project on their website.
Haidaienko is the ambassador, and she requested to have this exhibition on Sewanee’s campus. She did all the paperwork and coordinated with the library and the Vice-Provost to display this exhibition in the library.
“I hope that students keep thinking about the war, and keep getting educated about events around the world,” Haidaienko said. “The war is still present in everyone’s lives. Everyday you walk past and keep learning more.”
The stories shared on each poster have been cultivated by the student’s families and friends. The University asked Haidaienko if she had the rights to share these people’s names, stories, and pictures, but “the organization took care of all that.” The organization reached out to the families to make sure they were okay with “sharing their kids stories.”
From February 23 to March 20, the Unissued Diplomas exhibit will be held on the first floor of the duPont library.
“I hope that [this exhibition] inspires someone to volunteer, donate, maybe just read an extra article, talk to their friends,” Haidaienko said. “I just want people to get educated and to keep doing things that are good and right.”