Israa Zayed, Features Editor
“Behold how good and pleasant it is for kindred to dwell together in unity” (Psalm 133:1), the Sewanee motto is a symbol of the community, diversity and respect that everyone is expected to share at the University. One particular professor is taking that to a whole new level.
Professor Colbert is doing something unlike any other here at Sewanee. Colbert teaches the U.S. Immigration Law and Policy as well as the Immigration Law in Action classes at the University and she is bringing a new meaning to hands-on learning. When we sat down for our interview, the first thing I asked Professor Colbert was why she was so passionate about immigration policy.
“I was always naturally curious about people,” she said. According to Colbert, she had always had a strong interest in human rights and community. Immigration policy was a way for her to do work in both things and satisfies her urge to know what makes immigration policy look the way it does and how policy lives and breathes in the world.
For this interview, I was particularly interested in her Immigration Law in Action class, otherwise called the Immigration Legal Clinic. “The class works with a community partner in Boston where I interned as a law student,” said Colbert. The organization refers clients to her and she works pro bono with her students to file for green card status for them, and even their families. These people won asylum within the U.S. and with the help of Colbert and her students, they can file the right paperwork for their legal residency.
The students get to learn about legal work by working in groups of two to three and they handle about four short contained client cases per semester. Along with students learning about the legal and academic context in issues related to asylum law, they also learn about the process of getting a green card itself so that they are not blindly filling out paperwork. The class covers responsibility and ethics and how to approach cases where they might be working with clients that have experienced trauma. Colbert called these sessions “case work rounds” and they are meant to give her students extra support.
While Colbert could not share any specific stories with me due to confidentiality reasons, however, she did share some of the difficulties her and her students run into from time to time. She mentioned, “Sometimes clients are not as responsive as they ought to be or there could be barriers with communication such as language.” There can also be government related issues sometimes with things like changes happening to paper work processes where the government would release a new form for something and the students have to start over.
While challenges like these can be a little tedious or discouraging, they create good learning experiences for the students. Situations like this help shape critical thinking skills, expand knowledge of immigration policy and push students to see how policy has a real impact on people, which is what Professor Colbert hopes students gain from her classes and why she believes immigration policy is important for students to learn about.
When asked about what she wishes to share with students whether they’re taking her classes or not, Professor Colbert said that she hopes students know that we all bring assumptions and biases into things but it is essential to learn how to look past those things and use critical thinking. She always tells her kids that they will be much happier in the world if they assume everyone has good intentions.
Immigration is something that is extremely important to me. As an immigrant myself, I have had firsthand experience with the struggle of being somewhere completely foreign and scary at times.
After the interview, Professor Colbert put me in contact with a student who had taken her class in the past.
When I sat down with Daphne Nwobike (‘26), I was able to get real student insight into what taking a class like this was like. The first thing we talked about was what stood out to her.
“I noticed the way that Professor Colbert could break down controversial concepts in a way that made students feel comfortable asking questions and being curious about how immigration works,” said Nwobike.
Something that stood out to her when she took the class was the experience of interacting with someone who was actively going through the immigration process and seeing how far they have come. “To me, this was something that was humanizing immigration and furthered my understanding that immigrants are more than just abstract numbers, they are also people affected by policies,” Nwobike said.
She felt a sense of purpose when she was helping others with their case. In fact, a core memory for her was getting to interact with a client for the first time outside of emails and getting to know more about them besides what was mentioned on their profile: “Seeing the endpoint after putting the clients documents together at the end of the semester was something that created a feeling of fulfillment for me.”
Finally, she said that any student looking to take the class should come in very open minded. They were going to meet new people from different backgrounds and you do not know as much as you think, so it is important to be culturally sensitive. She continued on to say that it is important to realize that their lives are actually affected by the work in your hands and it is your responsibility as a student to learn and be intentional when working with clients.
Having this type of hands-on learning is crucial. Not only does it help students looking to go into the legal field dip their feet into the water, it sends a message about the school in general. Having courses like this one says that Sewanee and its students and faculty care. Now, it is more important than ever to have a stance and support those who cannot help themselves.