(DePaul University/Jamie Moncrief)
On Monday, July 6, Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued new rules prohibiting international students from staying in the United States if the university they are enrolled in only offers online instruction. Due to the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, DePaul is exploring all avenues to continue to provide a safe learning environment for all of our students. We are following guidance issued by the federal Centers for Disease Control, and state and local public health officials. This guidance, and the advice we are receiving from other health officials, means that we must consider offering remote and online learning options.
This new rule limits the flexibility we have in determining the best ways to provide safe options for our students, faculty and staff. The potential impact may be devastating to many students who will be forced to give up their studies. Many who leave the United States will not return.
America will surely lose more than student enrollment. We will lose the many talents and abilities that these students bring to our universities and to our economy. The countless contributions of international students in the fields of medicine, STEM, the arts and virtually every other academic discipline cannot be overstated. America is richer because of these students, and shall be poorer in many ways without them.
DePaul has been in contact with our elected officials, and is closely following a legal challenge to this new rule brought by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. DePaul will join Northwestern University, the University of Chicago and other institutions across the country in submitting an amicus brief in the case.
Our Catholic and Vincentian values call on all of us to act, and to care for our sisters and brothers regardless of national origin. The actions we have taken to halt this rule are made in answer to the question, “What must we do?"
DePaul is exploring all possibilities to accommodate the needs of all students during this time, but with the overarching principle of safety. We will do what is in our power to do, consistent with our laws and with public health guidance. We urge those in positions of public authority to take any action appropriate to reverse this unwise and unfortunate decision.