New School trustee Henry Arnhold has donated a $7 million gift to The Zolberg Institute at the New School for Social Research in late February.

The donation comes after the Zolberg Institute’s continuous efforts to study and address issues regarding migration and mobility. The institute is committed to challenging the idea of migrants being seen as a threat to identity or security in the United States, under the direction of professors Alexandra Délano and Miriam Ticktin.

The funds will be beneficial to the expansion of the Zolberg Institute’s efforts to become a global center for academic research and protect the basic rights of humans, according to school’s blog. The institute also holds discussions related to global migration and mobility as well as the political and economic consequences of migration.

“This important gift comes just as the world is reaching a critical juncture in terms of humans moving across borders and around the world,” said Will Milberg, Dean of NSSR in a statement to the school. “Human mobility is now the baseline, and the Zolberg Institute will become the preeminent space for leading academics and policymakers to reframe the discussion of migration and the impact it has on human rights, as well as the economic effect on emerging markets and market demand.”

The institute is named after the late Ary Zolberg (1931-2013), a Politics professor at NSSR and founder of the International Center on Migration, Ethnicity and Citizenship the Zolberg Institute’s predecessor in the 1990s. Zolberg was very involved in work regarding immigration politics, studies of ethnicity, and practices of integration.

“I’m happy to follow in Ari Zolberg’s footsteps by encouraging the study of migration, especially since it has become even more important in today’s globalized world,” Arnhold said in a statement to the school.

The New School’s efforts regarding immigration and mobilization issues dates back to 1933 when the University of Exile was established in partnership with the NSSR, to provide an emergency rescue program for threatened scholars in Europe. The University of Exile became a save haven for many Europeans when the Nazi movement and Adolf Hitler persecuted many intellectuals across the continent.