Updated on December 16, 2024.
The University of Vermont is advising foreign staff and students to return to campus before January 20, the date of president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Jamie McGowan, executive director of international partnerships and programs, emailed members of the campus community on Tuesday to say several people had asked about “communications going out to our international colleagues and students, in light of changes that might take place some 20 days into the new year.”
“We will keep students informed of any changes in federal policies or processes that might impact international travel and visa acquisition in the new federal administration,” McGowan wrote.
Many U.S. colleges and universities are advising international students, staff and faculty to return to the U.S. before the inauguration. It’s not yet known what changes, if any, the Trump administration will make to visa and travel requirements for foreign nationals. UVM’s spring semester starts January 13.
During his first term, Trump imposed entry restrictions on nationals from seven majority-Muslim countries, a move that affected more than 17,000 students, according to Inside Higher Ed. Cornell University warned its students of a likely travel ban after January 20 that could affect citizens of Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Myanmar, Sudan, Tanzania, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen and Somalia.
“New countries could be added to this list, particularly China and India,” Cornell stated on its website. It said students from other nations are unlikely to be affected.
About 1,200 of UVM’s 14,500 undergraduate and graduate students are foreign nationals, according to the university’s student enrollment dashboard. International students typically pay higher tuition than Vermont or U.S. students.
“We have a significant population of Iranian graduate students, especially in the College of Engineering, but compared to other institutions I have been at, we have a pretty small overall international student body,” Pablo Bose, a professor in the Department of Geography and Geosciences and director of UVM’s Global and Regional Studies Program, said in an interview on Thursday. “Regardless, it’s something we’re paying attention to.”
Bose, who studies migration and urban environments, noted that Trump has long talked about cracking down on illegal immigration but tends to focus on limiting legal migration for some populations, including people from Muslim-majority countries.
Overall foreign student enrollment dropped in the U.S. after Trump was elected in 2016. The New York Times reported in 2017 that 45 percent of campuses reported average declines of 7 percent. Many chose Canada or Australia instead of the U.S., Bose said.
“It’s already challenging for students coming from certain places to get a visa” to enter the U.S., Bose said. “It’s hard for students coming from Africa in every [presidential] administration. There is a lot of extra scrutiny, a lot of extra paperwork.”
Middlebury’s office of International Student and Scholar Services
reminded community members to make sure their documents were with
them, not in checked luggage.
“Whenever there is a change of the U.S. president and their
administration, it is common for the new president to take executive
actions, some of which can be enacted immediately,” the college said on its website. “It is understandable that you may have questions or
concerns about re-entering the United States in late January and
beyond. Yet, it is not possible for ISSS to predict when or what type
of executive actions will be enacted on or following the presidential
inauguration on January 20, 2025.”
Officials at some of Vermont’s colleges and universities have been reluctant to talk about what might happen. Many declined to answer questions about guidance for international students, faculty and staff.
“We did issue a travel advisory to international faculty and staff as a way to alert them to potential short-notice changes in visa and immigration policies,” said Ashley Jowett, director of communications for Bennington College.
Bose said there’s been a lot of discussion at UVM about the possible impact of Trump’s policies.
“It’s trying to be proactive and prepared, but at the same time not overreacting, because it’s hard to know exactly what is going to happen,” he said. “There is a lot of speculation.”
This article appears in Dec 11-17, 2024.
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