Harvard University will not allow first-year international students to come to campus this fall, the school announced on Tuesday.
The decision comes because Harvard has chosen to continue the fall semester entirely online amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Federal rules do not allow foreign students to enroll in online-only programs.
This past spring, as schools shifted unexpectedly online, an exception allowed foreign students to stay in the US even if their programs became all virtual.
The Trump administration earlier this month threatened not to allow returning foreign students to re-enter the US, but backed down at the last minute.
But on Tuesday, Harvard College Dean Rakesh Khurana informed students that first-year international students will still be subject to the normal policy that does not allow them to take exclusively online courses.
Advertisement
Earlier this month Harvard College announced its plan for the fall is to hold all courses virtually and allow up to 40 percent of students back to campus, including the freshman class. The rest of the students are expected to study from home.
Khurana, in an email to students on Tuesday evening, said the college explored the idea of creating some type of hybrid program on campus this fall that would have allowed foreign students to return, but decided, given the unpredictability of the COVID-19 crisis, that would not be wise.
Administrators worried that allowing foreign students to return to campus might jeopardize the health of other students and also worried that the international students might get stuck in the US if travel restrictions are again put in place later this year, he said.
"We abhor any policies that seek to force us to choose between our community's health and the education of our international students," Khurana wrote.
Khurana said the university is working with members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation to extend the online exemption to newly admitted students, but said that is not likely to happen in time for the fall semester.
Advertisement
Harvard and MIT, along with many other colleges, challenged that plan in lawsuits they filed against the Trump administration, seeking to protect foreign students’ ability to return to the US.
“Its cruelty surpassed only by its recklessness,” Lawrence Bacow, Harvard’s president, said in a message at the time, announcing the federal filings. “It appears that it was designed purposefully to place pressure on colleges and universities to open their on-campus classrooms for in-person instruction this fall, without regard to concerns for the health and safety of students, instructors, and others.”
Laura Krantz can be reached at laura.krantz@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @laurakrantz.
"allow" - Google News
July 22, 2020 at 05:38AM
https://ift.tt/30C943g
Harvard won’t allow first-year international students on campus - The Boston Globe
"allow" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2KTEV8j
https://ift.tt/2Wp5bNh
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Harvard won’t allow first-year international students on campus - The Boston Globe"
Post a Comment