More than 550 higher education leaders have signed a letter opposing the Trump administration’s actions against colleges and universities, including their international students. The signatures include presidents and leaders of 16 Illinois universities, including Michael Schill, president of Northwestern University, Mark C. Reed, president of Loyola University Chicago and Jiseon Lee Isbara, the president of School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
It makes sense that many of the people who signed the letter, which calls for “constructive engagement that improves our institutions and serves our republic,” are at major institutions that rely on federal funding for research and grant-funded academic scholarship.
Columbia gets funding for things like our TRIO office who help students with low socioeconomic status and for students who are disabled. Because the college is a private institution, we aren’t heavily reliant on federal funding, but it will still have an effect on us.
But that doesn’t mean Columbia should stay silent, especially when the administration continues to threaten international students.
The Trump administration has been revoking visas from international students by terminating their Student Exchange and Visitor Program status. According to Inside Higher Ed, more than 1,800 international students and recent graduates from 280 colleges and universities had their legal status changed by the State Department.
There are loose criteria for these visa terminations so any student is in jeopardy, whether it is for protesting or something like a minor speeding ticket. This doubtful feeling has a lot of students staying in the country out of fear of losing their education in the U.S.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has an electronic database of international students and exchange visitors, the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System or SEVIS.
On April 25, the Trump administration announced that it would restore all terminated SEVIS statuses. This is one win, but there is no guarantee that this won’t happen again, and Columbia’s international students still face uneasiness and uncertainty, as the Chronicle reported this week.
Clare Lake, Columbia’s director of International Student Scholar Services, told the Chronicle that there isn’t much the college can do about student visa status, which is true.
But the college can offer transparency and support.
In a recent Faculty Senate discussion about DEI, Senior Vice President and Provost Marcella David noted that fine line the college has to walk to coming under investigation, a costly and time-consuming distraction at a time when the college is trying to address a $17 million deficit and put new academic programs in place.
But more and more, colleges are choosing not to stay quiet and to fight back on the Trump administration’s attack. Two professors from Rutgers University started their own statement and “mutual defense compact” in solidarity with 18 large and predominantly public universities.
In one of his final acts as interim president and CEO, we urge Jerry Tarrer to add his name to a letter that notes, “Colleges and universities are engines of opportunity and mobility, anchor institutions that contribute to economic and cultural vitality regionally and in our local communities.”
It is time for Columbia to demonstrate their promises to their international students with tangible commitment.
Copy edited by Matt Brady
