Expelling foreign students short-sighted

"From the Trump administration’s perspective, suddenly forcing international students out of the country must have looked like three wins in one."

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Opinion

July 16, 2020 - 9:35 AM

A general view of Harvard University campus is seen on April 22, 2020 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sought out a court order to stop the U.S. from enforcing new visa guidelines that could cast international students out of the country if schools offer only online classes. Photo by (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images/TNS)

From the Trump administration’s perspective, suddenly forcing international students out of the country must have looked like three wins in one. It would have ejected mostly non-European immigrants, advanced the administration’s new demand that schools reopen their campuses despite the threat posed by COVID-19 and financially and academically harmed universities, which Trump views as bastions of liberal indoctrination.

Not to mention striking a blow against science, and especially against the nation’s leadership in scientific research, which has come about largely because of its globally admired university programs in engineering and laboratory science.

At least the odious preliminary directive was withdrawn Tuesday, though we don’t know how new students and those whose visas are ending will be affected. The original version would have required the international students to leave the country unless they attended in-person classes this fall. It would have given universities that are planning to offer only online courses until Wednesday to come up with in-person lesson plans for their international students. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia sued and the plan’s chances were looking iffy in court Tuesday.

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