Canadian students aghast at U.S. rule for international education

Two Victoria-based students say many of their friends are reeling from the “shocking” news from the Trump administration that international students whose courses are conducted online-only in September will lose their status and would be required to either transfer or leave.

Jasper Johnston is fortunate that he has graduated from Harvard University and will be heading to Oxford, while sister Aysha Emmerson has dual Canadian/American citizenship and can continue her education in September, also at Harvard.

Both are St. Michaels University School alumni.

Johnston said the U.S. decision will affect huge numbers of students across the country.

“It’s been incredible to see this very emotional reaction from members of our community, and justifiably so,” Emmerson said. “People are rallying together in support, but also having to deeply reconsider their plans for next year.

“I have many friends who are living around the world right now and were previously planning to return to the States and find their own offcampus living station, despite the college being predominantly residential.”

Emmerson said her plans are to live off-campus in the Harvard area with five other woman.

“Kind of return to the belly of the beast, but hopefully forge our own semblance of a Harvard community — even if all of our classes are online.”

While Canadians often receive preferential treatment in the U.S. immigration system, it does not seem the northern neighbours have been spared this time.

“My son happens to be a Canadian. He’s a McGill grad and if he was coming over from Montreal to Harvard to take online courses, they would not let him over at the border,” said Carl Shusterman, an immigration lawyer based in California.

“This rule has no nuance to it whatsoever, and it doesn’t make any sense,” he said.

There are tens of thousands of Canadian students enrolled at U.S. universities, and more than a million international students in the country overall. Out of these, almost half are from China and more than a quarter are from India.

The Canadian government was not prepared to comment, pointing instead to the $21 billion annually that international students add to the Canadian economy.

“It’s for American leaders to speak to American policies and it wouldn’t be appropriate to speak to their policies,” Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said in an emailed statement.

Nine per cent of U.S. colleges are planning to offer online-only education come September, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, which is tracking the plans of about 1,090 colleges.

One of those is Harvard, which joined with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in filing a legal challenge to the move on Wednesday.

The lawsuit, filed in Boston’s federal court, seeks to prevent federal immigration authorities from enforcing the rule. The universities contend that the directive violates the Administrative Procedures Act because officials failed to offer a reasonable basis justifying the policy.

In a statement, the U.S. State Department said that while international students are welcome, the policy “provides greater flexibility for nonimmigrant students to continue their education in the United States, while also allowing for proper social distancing on open and operating campuses across America.”