Law Schools Say ICE's Shifting Student Visa Rules Created Unnecessary Chaos
"I was relieved," said Penn State Dickinson Law Dean Danielle Conway of the reversal. "But this took a significant amount of time to respond to, as it was dropped on us six weeks before orientation.
July 16, 2020 at 09:00 AM
5 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Law.com
Penn State Dickinson Law Dean Danielle Conway said she's "relieved," and indeed many law school administrators are breathing a sigh of relief, after the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday walked back a requirement that international students attend class in person in the fall—a rule critics said would threaten the health and safety of students and potentially drive foreign students away from their institutions.
While legal educators are applauding the outcome, they say the now-rescinded rule diverted time and attention away from planning for the fall semester and working through the changes they need to make in order to operate safely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I was relieved," said Conway said of the reversal. "But this took a significant amount of time to respond to, as it was dropped on us six weeks before orientation. For Dickinson Law, 10 of our 85 1Ls are international students. We're going remote learning on a hybrid platform, and an important segment of our class would have been excluded."
Dickinson Law was in the midst of changing its registration structure to ensure that international students would not lose their visas, she added.
ICE announced the in-person class requirement July 6, sparking panic across colleges and universities, many of which rely heavily on international students to fill classes and coffers. The agency's Student Exchange Visitor Program traditionally requires people in the United States on international student visas to complete their coursework in person. But the agency dropped the in-person requirement last spring when virtually all classes moved online amid the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The July 6 directive stated that holders of international student visas would have to attend at least one class in person in the fall or leave the country. Under the rule, international students would have had to leave the country midsemester if their schools went fully online because of rising COVID-19 cases. Higher education experts speculated that the rule change was intended to pressure colleges and universities to resume in-person classes next semester.
An avalanche of lawsuits quickly followed. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were the first to sue, and the University of California system and Johns Hopkins University followed suit. Meanwhile, law school administrators scrambled to figure out how they could accommodate their international students under the new rule.
"It has been like a perfect storm—trying to figure out fall enrollment just a few weeks form the start of the semester," said Sarah Gruzas, director of graduate and international programs at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. "USC has a large population of international students, and we really pride ourselves on welcoming them. They contribute so much value to the diversity of our student community, so it was a shock to see the original ruling came out."
USC's law school is planning to be almost fully online the fall, and administrators were contemplating adding a hybrid class for international students that would include some in-person instruction to adhere to the now-rescinded rule, Gruzas said. Other law schools were also planning similar in-person classes just for international students.
The earlier rule change sent the wrong message to international students by implying that they aren't welcome in the United States, said Sarah Kelly, vice dean for administration at St. John's University School of Law and the chair of the Association of American Law Schools' section on post-graduate legal education.
"The July 6 guidance didn't reflect the inclusivity and community that we foster in our law schools," she said. "The update we received yesterday goes a long way towards both enabling our students to have a positive experience and allowing them to continue their studies in the United States without fear of what happens if the public health situation shifts such that online learning becomes necessary," she said. "It also allows them to prioritize their own health and doesn't put them in the difficult situation of having to make decision to study in person to retain their visa."
Matthew Diller, dean of Fordham University School of Law, said Wednesday that the reversal in policy was likely prompted by the likelihood that the mounting legal challenges would succeed. While a welcome development, the rollback of the in-person class requirement doesn't eliminate the many other challenges that international students face during the pandemic. Foremost is their ability to secure students visas at a time when many consulates remain closed. Diller said many of Fordham's international law students still don't know whether they will be able to come to New York next month when classes resume.
"The whole issue was terrible for our students," he said. "Our students are already juggling so many things. We have international students who returned to their home countries who are anxious to come back. We have international students who are here in the U.S. who can't go back easily because their countries aren't welcoming to Americans at this point. Our international students—like all law students—are already dealing with tremendous anxiety."
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllPenn Law Professor Amy Wax to Be Suspended With Half-Pay for Discriminatory Speech
4 minute readGlen Mills Schools Mass Tort Gets New Bellwether Dates After Pause in Trial Schedule
3 minute readFederal Judge OKs Student's Title VI Discrimination Retaliation Claim Against University of Pennsylvania
5 minute readTrending Stories
Who Got The Work
Dechert partners Andrew J. Levander, Angela M. Liu and Neil A. Steiner have stepped in to defend Arbor Realty Trust and certain executives in a pending securities class action. The complaint, filed July 31 in New York Eastern District Court by Levi & Korsinsky, contends that the defendants concealed a 'toxic' mobile home portfolio, vastly overstated collateral in regards to the company's loans and failed to disclose an investigation of the company by the FBI. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Pamela K. Chen, is 1:24-cv-05347, Martin v. Arbor Realty Trust, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Arthur G. Jakoby, Ryan Feeney and Maxim M.L. Nowak from Herrick Feinstein have stepped in to defend Charles Dilluvio and Seacor Capital in a pending securities lawsuit. The complaint, filed Sept. 30 in New York Southern District Court by the Securities and Exchange Commission, accuses the defendants of using consulting agreements, attorney opinion letters and other mechanisms to skirt regulations limiting stock sales by affiliate companies and allowing the defendants to unlawfully profit from sales of Enzolytics stock. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter Jr., is 1:24-cv-07362, Securities and Exchange Commission v. Zhabilov et al.
Who Got The Work
Clark Hill members Vincent Roskovensky and Kevin B. Watson have entered appearances for Architectural Steel and Associated Products in a pending environmental lawsuit. The complaint, filed Aug. 27 in Pennsylvania Eastern District Court by Brodsky & Smith on behalf of Hung Trinh, accuses the defendant of discharging polluted stormwater from its steel facility without a permit in violation of the Clean Water Act. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Gerald J. Pappert, is 2:24-cv-04490, Trinh v. Architectural Steel And Associated Products, Inc.
Who Got The Work
Michael R. Yellin of Cole Schotz has entered an appearance for S2 d/b/a the Shoe Surgeon, Dominic Chambrone a/k/a Dominic Ciambrone and other defendants in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit. The case, filed July 15 in New York Southern District Court by DLA Piper on behalf of Nike, seeks to enjoin Ciambrone and the other defendants in their attempts to build an 'entire multifaceted' retail empire through their unauthorized use of Nike’s trademark rights. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald, is 1:24-cv-05307, Nike Inc. v. S2, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Sullivan & Cromwell partner Adam S. Paris has entered an appearance for Orthofix Medical in a pending securities class action arising from a proposed acquisition of SeaSpine by Orthofix. The suit, filed Sept. 6 in California Southern District Court, by Girard Sharp and the Hall Firm, contends that the offering materials and related oral communications contained untrue statements of material fact. According to the complaint, the defendants made a series of misrepresentations about Orthofix’s disclosure controls and internal controls over financial reporting and ethical compliance. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Linda Lopez, is 3:24-cv-01593, O'Hara v. Orthofix Medical Inc. et al.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250