Fulbright program’s pandemic plan leaves scholar upset. ‘This doesn’t make any sense’

When writer Cristina Fríes left for Argentina in March of this year, it was the fulfillment of a dream. An award-winning alumna of UC Davis’ creative writing program, Fríes was the recipient of a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship. Under its auspices, she hoped to complete a short story collection while living in South America.

A versatile writer whose achievements include the libretto for the opera “Bones of Girls,” to music composed by Ryan Suleiman, Fríes has been working in the genre of magical realism for her project.

“I planned on spending nine months in Buenos Aires writing short stories (fiction) that were informed by the historical, social and political conditions that have led to the femicides occurring in Argentina,” she said, “and its effect on the way women feel, think, and operate under this threat today. This would be my first book, which I hope to publish and translate into Spanish for international publication one day.”

Like an unexpected plot twist in an unrealistic thriller, all of her plans were abruptly upended by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“On March 9, I finally arrived in Buenos Aires after a year of anticipation and planning all aspects of my life around this Fulbright grant. On March 20, the Fulbright program suspended all programs internationally due to the pandemic, and called for all grantees to return to the United States,” said Fríes.

With her Argentinian sojourn truncated to mere days instead of months, Fríes was left to her own resources by the Fulbright program.

“They did not say ‘come home and we’ll ensure that you can restart your grants in your host countries at a later date.’ They did not even say ‘come home and we’ll give you the rest of your grant money, and help support you during this transition.’ Instead, they said that our grants were over, we’d not receive our full grant payment, and we were instantly given Fulbright Alumni status.”

Normally it’s a mark of distinction to have “Fulbright scholar” as an entry in one’s curriculum vitae, but Fríes was deemed a program alumna before she was able to do anything. She and other frustrated Fulbrighters organized an effort to salvage something from the wreckage.

“We wrote letters to the State Department, our representatives in Congress, senators, the ECA Bureau (Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs) and members of the Fulbright Commission staff, expressing our concerns and demands,” said Fríes. “We asked for our full grant payment, transitional support, and the chance to restart our Fulbright experience at a later date, when it becomes safe to do so.”

Their efforts paid off, but only to a limited degree. Fulbright offered to cover some of the expenses in relocating back to the United States, which for Fríes and several of her colleagues included 14-day stays in an Airbnb for self-quarantine purposes before resuming life in the states after international travel. She was back in the Golden State, but without a job or grant funding for support. Fortunately, unlike many of the other dismissed grantees, she had retained her health insurance under Covered California. Most of the Fulbrighters were back in the U.S. without jobs, homes, or health coverage.

After such a long streak of bad luck, Fríes finally began to have things go her way. “I’m incredibly fortunate, given what’s going on in the world,” she reported. “I have a place to live (with my parents), and I have my health, and I haven’t lost anyone dear to me from the virus.”

These thoughts strengthened her as she worked through the difficult adjustment period to the new normal. “My first month back in the Bay Area was heartbreaking and depressing on many levels,” said Fríes. “I mourned my grant, and all the hopes and dreams I had associated with the experience. As an artist, time and support is incredibly hard to come by! I was scared of loved ones getting sick, and of getting sick myself. The world looked so different just 10 days after I’d left for Argentina. My mind had to make so many paradigm shifts so quickly that it made it difficult to know what to do for my own well-being and future.”

To add insult to the injury, Fríes learned Fulbright scholars whose grant periods had yet to begin when the pandemic hit were allowed to postpone their grants. “If my program had started just a week or so later than it did, I would not be in this situation,” said Fríes. “That doesn’t make any sense.”