Dear AAAFSC colleagues,

The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) recently announced that international students cannot take a full online course load and remain in the U.S.  This creates a dilemma which "will force colleges and universities into an impossible choice— to reopen prematurely or risk losing invaluable international students and their contributions—and unnecessarily endanger both the physical and mental well-being of all students and faculty." (American Psychological Association [APA]; News release on 7/8/2020). 

According to the Institute of International Education (2019), 1,095,299 international students were in the U.S. in 2018/2019.  According to UMBC International Education Services, we had about 900 actively enrolled international students last semester.  The board of the Asian and Asian American Faculty and Staff Council want to express our support for international students and colleagues and to share a list of action items with our members. This list is adapted from a statementwritten by the international section of APA CounselingPsychology (dated 6/27/2020).  Hyperlinks to relevant sources are embedded.  Please check out the resources.

1.       Add your signature to petitions/open letter

a. Petition the White House: Allow F-1 students to stay in the US through the fall semester if instruction is online due to the pandemic

b. Connecting our world: Urge Congress to support international students & scholars and protect OPT

c.Change.org: Let international students stay

d. Open Letter Against the Student Ban by faculty at universities and colleges across the U.S.

2. Contact your lawmakersto support immigration reformincluding House Bill 1044 and Senate Bill 386.

3. Build your awareness about the racist history of the U.S. immigration systemand the different visa categories that may apply to your students and colleagues.

4. Advocate for our international students and colleagues by (a) recognizing and checking-in with them about the impact of recent proclamations and regulations on our international student community; (b) reaching out to our  institution’s international offices and Human Resources offices  for resources or a training related to how this proclamation and regulations affect our students and staff; (c) calling out xenophobia; (d) establishing emergency financial and/or legal assistance to support those whose legal statuses were displaced by the current proclamation.

5. Donateto organizations such as Justice Action Center, American Immigration Lawyers Association, and Innovation Law Lab that  filed a federal lawsuit related to the April 2020 Proclamation.

UMBC International Education Services (IES) is hosting a Town Hall meeting for students, faculty and staff on Friday, July 10 at 4pm EST to discuss the situation, share what we know so far, and answer questions as best we can.

Click here to join the IES Virtual Town Hall

https://t.e2ma.net/click/7nodxe/jdozdbc/7va4uz

Please share questions you would like to have addressed at the Town Hall here (make sure you are signed in to your myUMBC account to access the form):

https://forms.gle/mfFLPq1EAV8YTQMS7

In solidarity,

The AAAFSC board members

Tamara Bhalla, Jiaqi Gong, Fan Yang, Shuyan Sun, Aditya Desai, & Soonhee Lee