U.S. colleges fear fight being lost for international studies

Even with a fresh victory on behalf of international students, U.S. universities fear they’re losing a broader fight over the nation’s reputation as a place that embraces and fosters the world’s best scholars.

University leaders see it as a steady erosion. They say the Trump administration’s repeated attempts to curb immigration have sent students a message that they aren’t welcome in the United States. Colleges say foreign students are listening: Since President Donald Trump was elected in 2016, the number of new international students coming to the U.S. has fallen by 10% after years of growth.

Already, there’s concern that the coronavirus pandemic and a slowdown of visa processing could prevent thousands of students from returning this fall. Foreign students now face even more uncertainty after seeing how quickly policies can change, and on nothing more than a political whim, said Kim Wilcox, chancellor of the University of California, Riverside.

“Higher education in the United States is still seen as the gold standard around the globe, but access to it comes with all kinds of risks,” Wilcox said. “There’s a growing sense that we’re just not a welcoming place.”

Trump’s latest policy would have forced international students in the U.S. to transfer or leave the country if their schools held classes entirely online because of the pandemic. Even those at universities offering a mix of online and in-person classes would have been forbidden from taking all their classes online.

More than 200 colleges signed legal briefs supporting a federal lawsuit by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Seven other suits followed as colleges and states challenged the guidance. Called to court to defend the guidance, federal officials revoked it instead.

It was widely seen as part of Trump’s recent campaign to pressure the nation’s schools and colleges to reopen this fall, even as the coronavirus continues to surge.

But even in defeat, the policy fed a narrative that American universities are no longer the welcoming places they once were, said Denis Wirtz, vice provost for research at Johns Hopkins University. It comes as schools in Canada, Australia and other nations push to attract more international scholars. Over time, Wirtz said, those countries may win the world’s top talent.

The concern is shared by leaders at other elite research universities. Only hours after the administration retreated from its policy, MIT’s president published an op-ed warning that other countries “are working hard to attract students who have soured on the United States because of growing anti-immigrant hostility or bureaucratic roadblocks.”

There’s also a looming fear that the administration will return with a revised rule, as it did after a 2017 travel ban faced legal challenges. Hoping to ease nerves, dozens of colleges have issued statements pledging to support their international students, and many say they’re prepared to return to court if needed.

Daniel Diermeier, chancellor of Vanderbilt University, said it isn’t too late to repair the damage. America’s higher education system is still viewed as the best in the world, he said, but that could change.

“We’re going to have to fix this very quickly. We’re going to have to recommit to the policy that has brought so much benefit to the United States,” he said. “Talent will go where it sees the best opportunity for itself.