The US-Ireland Alliance is not taking no from the U.S. state Department as an answer. The organization, which runs the Mitchell Scholarships program, has initiated an online petition aimed at changing the department's mind.
"We have received an outpouring of support and requests asking how people can help. We've created an online petition so you may easily sign on and share it with your friends, family and colleagues," said Alliance president, Trina Vargo, in an emailed statement.
"There are already more than 230 names on the petition and it will update automatically on our website. And please use your social networks to encourage others to sign the petition," added Vargo in the statement, which was released last week.
As previously reported, the U.S. State Department has moved to cut funding for the Mitchell Scholarships, a program that sends a dozen top level American college graduates to Ireland on a yearly basis.
The program is run not by Mitchell himself, but by the US-Ireland Alliance, headed by Vargo, who was an aide to the late Senator Edward Kennedy.
The Department of State contributes $485,000 to the Mitchell program, with each allocation being spent over a 17 month period.
The program was established in the aftermath of Senator Mitchell's work in securing the Good Friday Agreement. Scholarships are awarded to outstanding students, aged 18-30, to pursue one year of postgraduate study in Ireland, North and South. About 300 apply every year for Mitchells, but only about a dozen applicants are typically successful.
In recent months, efforts had been stepped up to retain funding for the program with Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts leading the push in the U.S. Senate.
Separately, the Alliance has been fundraising in an effort to set up an endowment that would fund the Mitchell program in perpetuity. It has a goal of raising $20 million in the U.S. A few years ago, the Irish government said it would match this amount if it was raised. However, both the raising and matching have become more difficult propositions in the light of the economic downturn.
The Irish Times reported that officials from the State Department told the Alliance that the (Mitchell) money was being withdrawn because of general budgetary cutbacks, and also because Europe was no longer a priority.
The Alliance, in turn, has written to the heads of appropriation committees on Capitol Hill asking them to appeal to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to reverse the decision.
The Times reported that the Alliance cannot be fully self-financed until it comes close to its overall endowment target of $40 million. Senator Mitchell, the report said, has been involved in fundraising activities over the past year.
