On Monday, July 6, Harvard announced that it will be transitioning to an online-only educational format for the Fall 2020 semester, and, despite Harvard’s pledge to opt for a medium density plan, promising to bring up to 40% of undergraduates back on campus, students will learn remotely whether or not they live in Cambridge. While to many students, the prospect of continued remote learning spells additional burdens to a less-than-ideal learning situation, to international students, such a prospect may have more severe consequences.
On the same day, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement released information stating that nonimmigrant students on F-1 or M-1 student visas will not be permitted to take a solely online course load and remain in the United States. Not only will the State Department not issue visas to students enrolled in schools or programs that are fully online, but active students in such a program are subject to deportation, with the only possible avenue for reprieve being to transfer to a school with in-person instruction. On Trump’s Twitter feed, his only tacit nod to this policy is an all-caps tweet stating, “SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!!”
Meanwhile, among American media channels, the response has been divided. The traditionally liberal channels sympathize with the plight of the international student community, while the channels considered “conservative” take on a different stance. In a recent Fox News article, the University of California at Berkeley was lambasted for offering a “fraudulent” course run through the anthropology department, with the article denouncing the school not only for subverting the law but also for enriching departments traditionally associated with potential “indoctrination.” International students have been viewed in the right-wing media sphere as, among other things, conduits for foreign espionage, and comments in the Fox News articles have complained about the unfairness of wealthy foreign students taking places from Americans. While claims of espionage are not unfounded and while many internationals are an important source of revenue for universities, such claims ignore the vast majority of internationals not engaged in espionage activity and the many hardworking, low-income international students who have come to realize their American dream.
The ICE policy restricting international students from taking online classes is not new. Upon receiving their I-20 forms, necessary to qualify for an F-1 visa, international students observe that the third page of their I-20 states that no more than one online class may be counted toward the completion of the full study requirement. While this ICE policy was relaxed during the Spring and Summer of 2020, with the government helping internationals by allowing them to stay in the U.S. despite online education, the government’s store of generosity has run thin. Many international students, such as myself and my peers, expected the government to push back the “expiration date” and received a somewhat rude awakening on July 6th.
At Monday’s town hall with Dean Rakesh Khurana, students heard that Mark Elliott, Vice Provost of International Affairs, is in the process of contacting the individual ambassadors to the countries where Harvard’s international population calls home. Harvard’s International Office has also provided a rebuke to ICE’s statement, saying that the guidance has imposed a blunt approach to this complex problem and provides students with few options besides leaving the country or transferring schools, neither of which are ideal. The transfer process can take months on end as students need to reapply as undergraduates to a new institution, provide additional letters of recommendation and send in reports reflective of their current studies, all of which seems difficult to do in time to meet the swift deadline imposed by Trump and his peers. Leaving the country is a different beast altogether: While all international students would be departing into nations with fewer COVID-19 cases than the one in which they study, some may be doing so into nations where personal safety is on the line, where war is not so much words in a history textbook or pictures on the news channel and more about bus stops disappearing, bomb warnings and being forced to run for your life.
Currently, Harvard’s solution to this recent problem is to file pleadings along with MIT to seek a temporary restraining order against the enforcement of this policy, but so far, no indication has come from Harvard on what further measures it plans to take should the lawsuit fail or should other complications arise, with the only promise being Harvard’s “vigorous” pursuit of this lawsuit. Furthermore, little has been said about OPT and CPT, both work visa programs for students on F-1 visas. While Harvard has spoken about considering the hybrid learning option as touted by the government, nothing concrete has yet come in place. Apart from the traditional pleasantries and vague statements, Harvard’s international undergrads have not received additional substantive information.
The consequences of this ICE policy on Harvard’s international student population are real. In an interview with the HPR, Chemical and Physical Biology concentrator Ralph Estanboulieh ‘21, who hails from Syria, said the ICE announcement is “plenty to worry about,” as the so-called “initiation of removal proceedings” implies his return to a country with extremely bad healthcare, quarantine in unsafe government-designated places and an ongoing war. Worse, if he were deported to his home country, due to the travel ban instituted by Trump during the summer of his first year, he would not have the right to return to the U.S. as a graduating senior. While “Harvard was more than generous to let [him] stay” during the spring semester, after the order for campus dedensification, the current situation is less certain. However, Ralph remains resistant to panic, noting that students in his position “are used to such policies against [them],” and he believes that just as Harvard “lobbied to get students from Syria and Yemen into America,” so too will Harvard be able to assure the health and well-being of its international population during such a trying political climate.
In another interview with the HPR, Lebanese Chemical and Physical Biology concentrator Mahdy Yassine ‘22 remarked that as “the Wi-Fi isn’t very reliable and the same applies to the electricity supply,” which comes wholly from the government, learning has become a challenge. As he is studying biochemistry, he has wondered about the opportunities available in the Lebanese job market, as “the economic situation … is one of the worst it’s ever been.” While American students from disadvantaged backgrounds are permitted to return to campus should their learning environment be less than ideal, the same choice is not always afforded to the international population, who often have to worry about other forces at hand.
In observing all the antagonism between Harvard and the Trump administration, one thing seems clear: both sides are locked in combat, with neither ready to back down soon. While Trump’s policy may seem to wish to incite international student departures from Harvard College, the lack of understanding of the complexity of the transfer process is telling: This policy might not only induce excessive student leave and hence a tuition drain from schools non-observant to Trump’s total reopening plan but also deprive countless talented minds of an education and future Americans a gateway to the American dream.
Additionally, the policy certainly has roots in partisan politics. In a recent tweet, Trump pointed to Joe Biden as the main reason behind the unwillingness of private academies to reopen, citing political differences rather than the advice of public health experts. With this in mind, the President has sought to make his policies as different as possible from the perceived Democratic agenda, and unfortunately, international students find themselves the pawns of this political play. Without franchise, international students can neither make their voices heard nor act against the inane situation currently facing us. And without the path for citizenship provided by a college education in America, Trump seems to silence those who may move against him in the future, an action reminiscent of other hardships endured under his nativist policies.
It is important to point out that Harvard is not entirely guilt-free, either. With its international students being put at an immense disadvantage for learning, and many fearing for their own security, some may say that Harvard has done little else than offer condolences and a promise of “vigorous” pursuit of a lawsuit. Despite this, however, Harvard remains our best hope to stay in school and to keep on learning: The university has defended the international population in the past and seems to be willing to do so in the present. I am confident that despite the little information we have, Harvard can find a way to ensure that all can learn despite these trying times.
Image Credit: “Harvard University – Eliot House” by Roger W is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
