WASHINGTON — U.S. Catholic college and university leaders
have joined the nation's higher education community in condemning a new policy
announced by the Trump administration that would prevent international students
from remaining in or coming to the United States if their colleges use a
completely online format in the fall semester due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The temporary final rule — guidance for the Student and
Exchange Visitor Program — was issued without notice July 6 by the U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Two days later, Harvard University and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology filed a lawsuit against the Trump
administration in federal court in Boston over the policy, seeking a temporary
order to block the administration from enforcing it.
The lawsuit said the goal of the new guidance seemed to be
to "create as much chaos for universities and international students as
possible."
College leaders called the administration's policy simply a
means to force colleges to reopen and offer in-person classes at the time when
colleges are finalizing their fall plans. Harvard University, for example, announced
July 6 it would reopen its campus for undergraduates but that it would only
conduct classes online.
The Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, or
ACCU, said the government's decision is "not only bad health policy, it is
heartless."
"Allowing all students, regardless of country of
origin, to be given equal access to online learning is the fair, sensible and
moral thing to do. We can keep students safe and keep these young people on
track," the July 8 statement said.
The Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, or
AJCU, similarly expressed "grave concern" about this guidance and
asked Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf to withdraw it
immediately.
In a July 9 statement, the association said the guidance
"does not recognize the critical need for flexibility as we continue to
battle a new, virulent and changing disease" and also "disregards
previous guidance issued in the spring that recognized the unprecedented nature
of the coronavirus pandemic and provided our schools the necessary flexibility
to prioritize the academic needs of all students as they transitioned to a
virtual learning environment."
Catholic university presidents also have expressed their
concern and frustration with the policy's announcement.
John DeGioia, president of Georgetown University in
Washington, said in a July 8 letter to the school community that the university
"strongly opposes this reckless action," which he said "creates
new and unnecessary barriers for international students and puts their health,
stability and academic progress at risk if they are unable to participate in
classes in person."
DeGioia said the new requirements "fail to recognize
the invaluable contributions of our international students within our
community." He said the university was working on a number of fronts to
limit, and if possible prevent, the negative impact of this rule on its
international students.
He also said the university was joining other colleges and
universities in submitting an amicus brief in federal court "opposing this
new, damaging guidance."
In a July 7 blog post, Patricia McGuire, president of
Trinity Washington University, said the Trump administration's action was
"pushing two disgracefully irresponsible messages: the pandemic is no big
deal, get over it; and, if U.S. universities want to enroll international
students this fall then classes may not be online."
McGuire said: "Denying a safe education for
international students, interrupting their academic progress and possibly
forcing them to make premature departures from the U.S. with no guarantee of
return, further diminishes the stature of the U.S. globally while causing
untold hardship and needless stress for more than a million college
students."
She said her campus was looking at options and "will do
everything we can to take good care of our international students." School
officials also are working with advocacy groups to see if there are legislative
or legal solutions.
Holy Cross Father John Jenkins, president of the University
of Notre Dame, also spoke out against the rule, even though Notre Dame has
already announced it will have in-person classes, with a modified scheduled, in
the fall.
In a July 8 letter to Acting Secretary Wolf, Father Jenkins
said he was concerned about the government's "inhospitable, even hostile,
approach toward visiting students and scholars who enrich our own learning and
cultural environments."
"Having already overcome the hurdles of being accepted
to an American university and authorized to travel and live here, foreign
students now have to grapple with the uncertainty of being expelled from the
country simply because of the way instruction is delivered," he wrote.
He said Notre Dame enrolls about 1,400 international
students each year — all of whom are already vetted before their entry into the
United States. This past March, when the university stopped its in-person
teaching because of the pandemic, more than 100 foreign students were stranded
on campus because of restrictions on air travel to certain countries and for
other reasons.
Father Jenkins said he is proud Notre Dame accommodated
these students whom he described as an essential part of the campus community.
He said the international students not only add to university life, but they
strengthen local economies, saying: "A 25 percent decline in international
student enrollment this fall would result in a loss of approximately $10
billion and 114,000 jobs."
The timing of this guidance also is something school leaders
said cannot be ignored.
As the AJCU put it: "This new guidance comes just
months before our schools prepare to reopen for a new academic year,
undermining our ability to provide continuity in instruction for international
students, and ignoring the realities that colleges and universities are facing in
trying to adjust to a landscape that changes by the day."
The ACCU pointed to the stark difference from this spring
when "universities had to pivot on a dime to shift instruction online in
order to keep students, faculty and local communities safe from contagion."
It pointed out that then, international students were accommodated by the
government and allowed to finish their courses online, despite policies against
online education for international students.
The group, whose members are leaders from Catholic colleges
and universities across the country, said to send the international students
"home, without a degree, would force them to start their lives over simply
because a university is trying to keep its faculty and students safe as
contagion levels continue to be unpredictable."
"There are difficult decisions to make in challenging
times, but this is not one of those," it added.
July 10, California's attorney general filed a lawsuit
challenging this policy and seeking a court order to prevent the government
from enforcing it.
Three days later, 17 state attorneys general and the
attorney general for the District of Columbia similarly filed a lawsuit against
this rule. The states that joined in the lawsuit were: Colorado, Connecticut,
Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New
Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and
Wisconsin.
The attorneys general said in a statement the new rule and
reversal of the previous guidance for colleges amid the pandemic fails to
consider the health and safety of students, faculty and staff or the tremendous
costs and administrative burden it would place on schools to readjust plans. It
also "fails to consider that, for many international students, remote learning
in their home countries is not possible."
They said the policy poses "significant financial harm
to schools, as international students pay hundreds of millions of dollars in
tuition, housing, dining and other fees," while it also "forces
colleges and universities to offer in-person classes amid a pandemic or lose
significant numbers of international students who will either have to leave the
country, transfer or disenroll from the school."